A Woman's Scorn
by Rogue Ronin
Summary: Kento finally pops the big question, but someone from his past will try anything to prevent him from happiness. Ok, the summary needs work, but check it out and please review! Completed
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Hey I'm back again! Yea, like I was going anywhere, heh lol. Anyway to the point, I don't own anything that deals with the Ronin Warriors. The only one that is mine is Kaye. So just sit back and enjoy! Ja ne! Email is cokeacola_75@hotmail.com  
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A Woman's Scorn  
By: Rogue Ronin  
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"Kento, would you just let her sleep already?" Cye whispered.  
  
"Cye, would you relax? I know what I'm doing" Kento whispered back. While they were whispering, Kaye opened up one eye, and then quickly shut it just as Kento turned around. Cye caught onto Kaye's playing possum routine, as he held back a chuckle. Kento leaned down as he observed the peaceful look on her face. He smiled and then leaned in a little closer.  
  
"Morning angel." Kento said quietly as he carefully moved some of her hair out of her eyes.  
  
"Morning, hey Kento?" Kaye asked as she gave him a curious look.  
  
"Yea." Kento replied.  
  
"Since when did I change my name from Kaye to angel?" Kaye asked.  
  
"You didn't, but you're my angel." Kento replied with a teasing grin.  
  
"You might want to be careful, you're starting to sound like Sage." Kaye teased.  
  
"Hey come on, I'm nothing like that casanova." Kento replied. By this time Cye couldn't hold back any longer, he finally busted out laughing.   
  
"Cye, what's so funny?" Kento asked as he turned around and faced him.  
  
"Sorry Kento, but when we were whispering, I noticed that Kaye was just pretending to be sleeping." Cye replied as he was trying to compose himself.  
  
"I was about to change, when I heard the two of you coming. So I quickly jumped back into bed and closed my eyes just as you opened up the door. Can you forgive me?" Kaye asked as she gave puppy-dog eyes.  
  
Kento posed in a thinking mode, making her feel even more anxious. "All right I'll forgive you, but only on one condition." Kento replied mischievously as he looked at her.  
  
"Oh really, and what would that be?" Kaye asked curiously.  
  
"If you wanna know, then come downstairs." Kento replied just before he left.  
  
"Cye, what?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"I'm not sure either, but I think that you better hurry up and get down there." Cye replied as he left. Kaye quickly changed clothes, and then literally ran downstairs.   
  
"Kento, ok I'm here, so what's your...condition?" Kaye asked as she finally got to the main floor. She was to say the least, more than a little surprised by what greeted her. She saw that Rowen, Cye, Mia, Sage, Ryo, and White Blaze form a semi-circle around Kento, who was kneeling down on one knee while hiding something behind his back.  
  
"Guys? What's going on?" Kaye asked as she looked at them curiously.  
  
"Kaye, it's not going to work if you're over there. You have to come closer." Kento replied with a mischievous grin.   
  
"Come on Kaye, if you don't hurry up and get over here. I think that he's going to get a major rug burn if he moved to you, and I for one don't want to hear him complain." Sage said with a smirk.  
  
"Ok, ok you win." Kaye replied as she finally was standing in front of Kento.  
  
"I'm warning you now Kento, if you don't hurry up and say it, then I'm going to majorly kick your sorry butt for getting me up this early." Rowen whispered.  
  
"All right, all right Rowen back off I'm nervous enough as it is." Kento whispered back.  
  
"Kento nervous? Why would he be nervous? Wait a minute, the way that the others are standing, him on one knee. No way, he couldn't be. Is he proposing?" Kaye wondered.  
  
"Kaye would you, oh man ah would you do the honor and...marry me?" Kento asked as he took out what was behind his back and presented it to her.  
  
"Oh God, he did! He actually proposed!" Kaye thought excitedly.  
  
"Well Kaye, what's your answer?" Mia asked as they all looked at her.   
  
"Yes! My answer is yes, Kento I'll marry you!" Kaye replied as she flew into his arms.  
  
"It's about time, I was wondering when he was going to pop the question?" Cye said with a teasing grin.  
  
"Cye, you knew?" Kaye asked as they both stood up.  
  
"Actually we all did." Ryo replied with a grin.  
  
"Kento, you better hurry up and put that ring on her finger before you lose it." Cye said.  
  
"I was just going to do that Cye." Kento replied as he slipped the ring on her finger.   
  
"Hold on, you mean that this whole thing, was a set up for this?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Pretty much, yea." Rowen replied with a grin.  
  
"Ok then, whose idea was it?" Kaye asked as she eyed Kento suspiciously.  
  
"You're looking at him." Kento replied with a smirk.  
  
"What am I suppose to do with you?" Kaye asked.  
  
"I guess you're going to have to consider marrying me. Oh wait, you've already accepted." Kento teased.  
  
"Ok, now that the excitement has finally died down. If no one minds, I'm going back to bed. That is of course, no one decides to wake me early again." Rowen said as he threw a threatening glare at Kento.  
  
"Don't worry Rowen, I'll make sure that he doesn't wake you until later." Kaye replied with a wink. Rowen nodded and went back to bed, while everyone else separated and did their own thing.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"It looks like nothing has changed since I was here last. Figures, oh well it doesn't matter. I'm not leaving until I get back what I came for." a woman thought as she stood on a rooftop looking over the city.  
  
"My lady Lieah, are you sure that, I mean no disrespect of course, that you want to go through with this?" a man asked as he appeared next to her.  
  
"Alex I've told you to never question my judgment!" Lieah said angrily.  
  
"I'm sorry my lady, it's just that..." Alex replied.  
  
"Silence! I don't have time for any of your nonsense!" Lieah said.  
  
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this. If she doesn't stop this crazy vendetta of hers, then I'm afraid to think of the outcome." Alex thought before he disappeared.  
  
"That fool! How could he possibly understand? It took me years to get this far! The one that hurt me will pay! Now, where is he? Ah, there he is. It looks like he's still with his comrades. This is interesting, it looks like they have a new person in their little group, and it's a female nonetheless. I'm sensing a power from her; she must have armor as well. What!? That vixen! How dare she!" Lieah thought in anger as she saw that Kaye and Kento were kissing.  
  
"Alex! Alex where are you?" Lieah yelled in anger.  
  
"You called? My lady, what's gotten you so angry?" Alex asked curiously.  
  
"Look down there and you'll see why." Lieah replied.  
  
"Hmm, I see, that could be a problem. All the reason my lady, that I ask you humbly to reconsider." Alex said as he looked towards her.  
  
"No I will not reconsider! I want him to pay for hurting me! There is no wrath worse than a woman's scorn!" Lieah replied as she disappeared from the rooftop.  
  
"This isn't going to be pretty. I better hurry up and get down there in case I need to do some damage control." Alex thought as he too disappeared.  
  
"Was that? No way, it couldn't have been." Kento thought in confusion.  
  
"Kento, hey Earth to Kento." Kaye said as she was trying to get his attention.  
  
"Huh, oh sorry Kaye. Ah listen, there's something that I have to go and take care of. I'll be right back." Kento replied as he quickly got out of his chair.  
  
"Did you need any help? I could go with you." Kaye said as she was starting to get out of her chair.  
  
"Ah no! What I mean is, it's nothing that you should be concerned about. Just stay here with the others, and I'll be right back." Kento replied as he took off.  
  
"What was all of that about?" Kaye wondered as she sat back down. The guys and Mia looked at each other with concern. It looked like to Kaye that they knew what was going.  
  
"Was that?" Mia asked in confusion.  
  
"Yea, it sure was. I think that we better go after him." Ryo said as they quickly got up and took off after him.  
  
"Guys? Why won't any of you tell me what's going on? Is Kento in some kind of trouble?" Kaye asked as she ran along side them.  
  
"Sorry Kaye, now isn't a good time to get into it ok." Sage replied. A few blocks down, into a deserted alley, Kento finally caught up with the person that he saw.  
  
"It is her, how did she get back?" Kento wondered as he stopped.  
  
"Hello lover, it's been a while since we last saw each other." Lieah said as she approached him.  
  
"Not long enough!" Kento replied coldly.  
  
"Aw, didn't you miss me?" Lieah asked as she was now close enough to touch him.  
  
"No I didn't miss you, and another thing! Stop calling me lover, I was never your lover in the first place!" Kento replied angrily as he braced himself against the wall.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not, but I wonder. What can that seductress that I saw you kissing with have that I haven't already given you?" Lieah asked with an evil grin.  
  
"Kaye is no seductress!" Kento replied angrily.  
  
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I've came a long ways to get you back, and I think that it would be in everyone's best interest that you come back with me." Lieah said sternly.  
  
"There's nothing that you can do or say to make me go back!" Kento replied as he glared at her.  
  
"Really? Well how about this?" Lieah asked as she was kissing Kento passionately.  
  
"Hey you! Yea you, get your filthy hands off of my man!" Kaye said angrily as they finally caught up with them. Lieah slowly pulled back from the kiss and backed away.  
  
"Your man? How interesting, and what evidence do you have to back up your words?" Lieah asked with a smirk.  
  
"You want proof, then here it is! We're engaged! Now back off, or you're gonna get hurt!" Kaye replied as she glared at her. Lieah's smrik disappeared rather quickly as she gave Kaye a quick look over and saw the ring.  
  
"Damn! Alex was right, this will be a problem." Lieah thought as she faced off with Kaye.  
  
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Here let me loosen it for you!" Kaye said as she attacked her. Lieah saw that she was coming rather fast, but not quite fast enough. Just as she was about to get close enough to land her punch, Lieah quickly pulled out a small dagger and slashed across Kaye's arm.  
  
"Kaye!" Kento yelled as he and the others saw Kaye holding her bleeding arm. Lieah laughed and then took her small dagger and licked off Kaye's blood.  
  
"You're sick!" Kaye said as she glared at her.  
  
"You have no idea." Lieah replied as she gave an evil grin.  
  
"My lady, I believe that it's time to take our leave." Alex said as he appeared.  
  
"Yes, I do believe that you're right. Let's leave, I'm starting to get bored. But before we do, I want you to know something. I always get what I want, and I'll do it by any means possible." Lieah replied as they both disappeared.  
  
"Kaye, are you all right?" Kento asked as he approached her.  
  
"Stay away from me!" Kaye replied angrily as tears were threatening to fall.  
  
"But Kaye, your arm." Mia said in concern.  
  
"It'll be fine Mia, I just wanna go home ok." Kaye replied quietly. 


	2. ch 2

"Kaye if you don't get that wound looked at, it might get infected." Mia said as everyone got inside.  
  
"Mia, like I said before, it'll be fine." Kaye replied.  
  
"Oh yea, fine huh? If you call having your sleeve soaked with blood fine, then yea I guess you are." Ryo said. Kaye glared at him in anger, and then she finally gave in.  
  
"Fine, I'll have Mia take a look at it. Besides, the shirt is pretty much ruined anyway." Kaye replied as they headed upstairs to Kaye's room. When the guys heard her slam the door, they knew that they had to figure out what to do next.  
  
"How could have Lieah gotten out? I thought that they said that no one could ever escape." Kento said angrily.  
  
"It just goes to show ya that there is no such thing as a guarantee. Besides, we'll figure that out later. Right now we have to figure out how to tell Kaye about Lieah." Rowen replied as he crossed his arms, and leaned back against the wall.  
  
In Kaye's room, Mia was almost finished with bandaging Kaye's arm. "Come on Kaye, hold still so I can finish dressing your wound." Mia said as she finally was done. Kaye flexed her arm, making sure that the bandaging wasn't too tight.  
  
"Mia, who was that in the alley?" Kaye asked as she was searching for a clean shirt.  
  
"Her name is Lieah, and the other is her brother, Alex." Mia replied as she figured out where the conversation is going.  
  
"Is what Lieah said true? Were she and Kento...lovers?" Kaye asked quietly as she put on a clean shirt.  
  
"I'm sorry Kaye, but that's not for me to tell." Mia replied as she looked at her friend in concern.  
  
"Oh, I see." Kaye said. Mia wanted to tell her everything, but she knew that it wasn't her place.   
  
"Come on, let's go downstairs. I'm sure that the guys are wondering what's taking us so long." Mia said as she walked over to Kaye.  
  
"Sure Mia, whatever you say." Kaye replied as they made their way to the main floor.   
  
"Kaye, are you all right? How's the arm? If you want, I can..." Sage said as he spotted them entering the living room.  
  
"I'm all right. You don't need to, but thanks for the offer anyway." Kaye replied as she threw him a small smile of gratitude.   
  
"Kaye, when you and Mia were upstairs. We were talking, and we've decided that you shouldn't go out alone." Kento said sternly.  
  
"What! Kento, you can't be serious!" Kaye replied in disbelief as she walked up to him.  
  
"I'm dead serious! If you go out, then one of us is going to go with you. End of discussion." Kento said as he crossed his arms.  
  
"Why? Why Kento, does it have to do with Lieah?" Kaye asked as she was starting to get angry.  
  
"Yea it does, you heard what she said in the alley." Kento replied.  
  
"Of course I heard what she said, and so did everyone else." Kaye said angrily as she turned her back on him.   
  
"Kaye, Lieah meant what she said. She will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. I'm just trying to keep you safe. If anything happened to you..." Kento replied as he embraced her from behind.   
  
"Kento." Kaye whispered as her anger subsided.   
  
"Please Kaye." Kento said quietly as he kept her in his embrace.  
  
"All right, I won't go out alone. But on one condition, I have to know something, and you have to tell me truthfully." Kaye said.  
  
"What do you want to know?" Kento asked in anticipation as he already had a hunch about what she was going to ask.  
  
"I have to know, were you and Lieah at one time...lovers?" Kaye asked as she braced herself for his answer.  
  
"Kaye, I..." Kento replied.  
  
"Tell me Kento, tell me right now or I'm leaving." Kaye said.  
  
"Yes and no." Kento replied reluctantly.  
  
"What kind of answer is that? Yes and no? Either you were, or you weren't, not both. So which one is it?" Kaye asked.  
  
"She believed that we were lovers, I didn't. I only went along with it long enough to make sure that she was imprisoned, that's all nothing more." Kento explained as he tried to reassure her.  
  
"Kaye, you have to believe in what he's saying. He didn't want to go along with it, but if he didn't, then a lot of people would have been killed." Rowen said as he looked at her.  
  
"He wouldn't lie to me about something major like that. Then why hasn't he told me about this before?" Kaye wondered as she turned around and looked up into his eyes.  
  
"Kento I believe you. There's no reason why I shouldn't." Kaye said as she gave him a small smile.  
  
"You do? You actually believe me?" Kento asked with the sound of hope in his voice.  
  
"Yea, I do." Kaye said as she went up and kissed him.   
  
Just then the phone rang, "hello Koji residence? She's a little busy at the moment. Ah, just a second. Kaye, it's for you." Mia said as she pointed the phone over to her.  
  
"It was just getting good." Sage replied with a smirk as they broke their kiss.  
  
"Can't you just call them back?" Kento asked mischievously.  
  
"I wish." Kaye replied as she broke out of his embrace and walked over to Mia, where she handed her the phone.  
  
"Sorry." Mia said with an apological look.  
  
"Just wait, you'll get yours." Kaye replied as she brought up the phone. "Hello, yes? Whoa slow down, ok I'll be there."   
  
"What was all of that about?" Ryo asked as she hung up the phone, and started to look for her keys.  
  
"Someone from the center said that one of the kids ran off. So I have to go down there and help look for him." Kaye replied as she found her keys.  
  
"We're ready when you are." Cye said as he and Ryo were waiting for her by the door.  
  
Kaye gave them a curious look, "we? Who said anything about we?" Kaye asked as she finally made it to the door.  
  
"Remember, you agreed to not go anywhere alone. So let's go, the sooner we find this kid, the sooner we get back here." Ryo said as he gave her a stubborn look.  
  
"All right fine, I definitely don't feel like getting into it again. So let's get going." Kaye replied as they walked out the door.   
  
Kento rushed up to the window, just in time to see them leave. "Hey Kento, don't worry. Kaye's going to be just fine; Cye and Ryo are with her. So just relax." Rowen said as he was trying to make him feel better.   
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"I can't believe it! She's actually staying with him, even with what he told her!" Lieah said angrily.  
  
"What did you expect my lady?" Alex asked smugly.  
  
"Don't get coy with me, Alex! Anyway, it doesn't matter. Everything is going just as I planned." Lieah replied with an evil grin.  
  
"It's official, she has definitely flipped. She's way past reasoning with, now what am I suppose to do?" Alex thought as he watched his sister.  
  
A few minutes later, Kaye pulled up to the center where a few of the staff people were waiting. "Kaye, I'm sorry to call you when you were busy. I hope that we didn't pull you away from anything important." the head staff person said.  
  
"Spending time with my guy, that's all." Kaye thought sarcastically.  
  
"Who are they?" the second staff person asked.  
  
"Sorry about that, these guys are friends of mine, he's Cye and the other one is Ryo. They're gonna help me search." Kaye replied.   
  
"So which kid took off?" Ryo asked.  
  
"It was one of the new ones, his name is Lee." the head staff person replied.  
  
"Oh great, I should have seen that coming. Don't worry, we'll find him." Kaye said as she started her car.  
  
"Kaye, what do you mean, you should have seen that coming?" Cye asked.  
  
"When Lee first came to the center, I knew that he was a runner. He never did like staying in one place for too long. He always kept to himself, until finally he broke, and luckily I was the only one there at the time. So we became somewhat close, and he started to open up to me. I thought that we were making some progress. It's too bad, because he has so much potential. He could really make something of himself." Kaye said as she kept her eyes on the road.  
  
"We'll find him, hey over there! Isn't that lee?" Cye said as he pointed over to a boy that matched Lee's description.  
  
"Hey you're right, it is. All right Cye! Ryo, look around where you are, there should be some walkie-talkies." Kaye said as she quickly parked the car.   
  
"Found them! Kaye, where did you get these?" Ryo asked as they got out of the car.  
  
"When I was hired at the center, the staff is required to have a set in case of an emergency." Kaye replied as Ryo passed them out.  
  
"I say that this is an emergency. Why don't they just get cell phones?" Cye asked as they were now running in the same direction that Lee went.  
  
"Too expensive for them I guess. Great, now which way?" Kaye replied as they came to a split in the road.  
  
"I don't see a trail, it looks like we're gonna have to split up." Ryo said as he assessed the situation.  
  
"Split up? Ryo are you crazy? We can't do that, what if Lieah is around here somewhere?" Cye asked.  
  
"There's no other way Cye, we have to. Besides, the more time we stand around here arguing, the farther that he's going to get." Kaye replied.  
  
"Kaye, you promised Kento that you wouldn't go off anywhere alone, remember." Cye said as he gripped her shoulder firmly.  
  
"I remember Cye, don't worry ok. We each have a walkie-talkie just in case, and besides, you and Ryo won't be too far away if there is any trouble." Kaye replied as she placed her hand on top of his. Cye knew that there was no use in arguing with her, so he shook his head and went with Ryo down one street, while Kaye took the other. 


	3. ch 3

"Come on Lee, where are you? Give me some kind of sign would ya." Kaye thought as she ran. A loud scream of pain could be heard not too far away.  
  
"Lee!" Kaye said as she ran where the scream came from. Just as she turned the corner, Kaye saw that Lee was trying to fight off against someone.  
  
"Come on lady, haven't you heard of a fair fight?" Lee asked as he wiped the blood from his mouth.  
  
"Lieah! Cye, Ryo come in!" Kaye said urgently.  
  
"Kaye, where are you? Did you find Lee?" Cye asked.  
  
"Yea I found him, you two better get over here and fast." Kaye replied.  
  
"Why? What's going on?" Ryo asked.  
  
"Lee's fighting with Lieah, and it looks like..." Kaye replied as their communication was cut off.   
  
"Kaye! Kaye come in! Dammit! You just had to suggest that we split up, didn't you Ryo." Cye said as they quickly changed directions.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Well, look who dropped in for a visit. It's good to see you again." Lieah said as she approached Kaye.  
  
"It's too bad that I can't say the same thing. Now let the boy go, he has nothing to do with this." Kaye replied as she kept her eyes on her.  
  
"I don't think so. You have two options, one you could fight me, or two you could just give up." Lieah said as she stopped a few feet away.  
  
"Dammit, that's not much of a choice. I can't take the chance to transform into my armor, especially since Lee's here. She knew what she was doing this entire time, it was just a trick. Oh great, I should have listened to Cye when he warned me. But did I? No, I had to be stubborn about it." Kaye thought angrily.  
  
"Well, we don't have all day. What is your decision, or better yet I'll make it for you." Lieah said as she took aim at Lee.  
  
"No, don't! you win." Kaye said in defeat.   
  
"You hero types are all the same. So predictable, I knew that you would give yourself up to me. All I needed was the right motivation. Now, get over there by the boy." Lieah replied with an evil grin.   
  
Kaye glared at her while she was walking over to Lee. "Hey, are you all right?" Kaye asked as she finally got to him.  
  
"Yea I'm fine. You actually came out here to find me?" Lee replied as he glanced at her.  
  
"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Kaye asked as she glanced back.  
  
"Kaye, I'm sorry about this." Lee said as he began to back away from her.  
  
"Sorry about what?" Kaye asked in confusion.   
  
"I'm surprised Kaye, I didn't think that you would be so easy to fool." Lee replied as he began to glow.  
  
"Lee, What are you talking about?" Kaye asked.  
  
"I'm not Lee." Alex replied as he changed back to his true form.  
  
"The phone call, the two people waiting at the center. The fight that was the two of you?" Kaye asked wide-eyed.  
  
"You got it! I just wanted to get you alone so we can talk." Lieah said as she looked at her.  
  
"Talk? Yea right, Kento and the others warned me about you." Kaye replied as she glared at them.  
  
"Oh really, and what did they have to say?" Lieah asked mockingly.  
  
"They said that you'd do anything to get what you want. No matter what it takes? What do you want?" Kaye replied.  
  
"What do I want? Are you serious? You know exactly what I want. I want Kento back, he's was mine and he always will be." Lieah said.  
  
"Kento wasn't yours then, and he will never be yours now or ever! Armor of the Tiger..." Kaye replied as she tried to transform into her armor, but before she could fully transform, she was struck from behind.  
  
"Well done Alex. I didn't think that you still had it in you." Lieah said as she stepped over Kaye's body.  
  
"What did you expect? We better get out of here, I sense that the other two are close by." Alex replied.  
  
"You're right, but not before I do one final thing." Lieah said as she snapped her fingers and then the building caught on fire.   
  
"Ryo!" Cye said as they rounded the corner, and saw that Lieah and Alex were disappearing from the burning building.  
  
"I don't see Kaye anywhere, she must still be inside. Cye, I'm gonna need you to stay out here and try to put out the fire, while I go inside and see if she's in there." Ryo said as they transformed into their armors. As Cye was doing damage control, Ryo charged into the burning building and started his search.  
  
"Kaye, where are you?" Ryo yelled.   
  
"Ryo? Ryo!" Kaye yelled back as she was coughing from the smoke.  
  
"Kaye, hold on I'm coming." Ryo yelled as he made his way to her.   
  
"Hurry!" Kaye yelled back. Ryo finally got to where she was laying on the ground.  
  
"Can you move?" Ryo asked.  
  
"No, I think that my legs are pinned." Kaye replied.  
  
"It looks like you're going to need some help with that." Cye said as he suddenly appeared next to him.  
  
"Cye, I thought that I told you to try and put out the fire?" Ryo asked.  
  
"I did the best that I could, now unless you want to be buried alive in a burning building. I would suggest that you stop arguing and help me get this off of her. Ryo looked over at Cye in shock, but then he quickly got over it and helped him lift the beam. Just as Kaye was cleared from under it, they let go, picked her up and quickly got out of the burning building just before it caved in.   
  
"Sirens, I think that we better get out of our armors before they show up." Ryo said as he and Cye called them back.  
  
"Kaye, are you all right? Kaye? Ryo, she's not responding!" Cye said in concern.  
  
Before Ryo could speak, fire trucks and an ambulance pulled up. "Did you two see who started this fire?" the fire chief asked as the other fire fighters were trying to put it out.  
  
Ryo and Cye looked at each other, and then back to the fire chief and nodded their heads. They knew if they said whom, then they might have been locked away in a loony bin. "We need a medic over here!" the fire chief yelled towards the ambulance. The medics quickly ran over to where Ryo and Cye were holding Kaye. They motioned them to lay her down onto the stretcher. Then the medics started CPR.   
  
"We got a pulse. Ok get her into the ambulance!" the medic said as they lifted her up and put her inside.  
  
"We're coming with you." Cye said with a determined look.  
  
"We only have room enough for one of you. But the other one can follow us to the hospital." the medic said as he was about to leave.  
  
"I'll go with them, Cye you take Kaye's car. Call the others and have them meet us there." Ryo said as he climbed into the back. Cye ran quickly to her car, started it up and followed them. While he was driving, he made a call to the mansion.  
  
"Come on pick up!" Cye thought as he was driving.   
  
"Hello..?" Rowen said as he answered the phone.  
  
"Rowen, there's been an accident. Get the others and meet us at the hospital." Cye said before he hung up the phone.  
  
"Rowen, what's wrong?" Sage asked when he noticed the look on his face.  
  
"Cye just called, there was an accident. They're on the way to the hospital. He wants us to meet them there." Rowen replied as he hung up the phone.  
  
"An accident! Who's hurt, is it Kaye?" Kento asked urgently.  
  
"He didn't say." Rowen replied.  
  
"Then why are we still here? Let's go already!" Kento said as he was almost out the door.  
  
"Kaye, please be all right." Kento thought as they were on their way.  
  
About twenty minutes later...  
  
"Cye, where are Ryo and Kaye?" Mia asked as they ran into the waiting room.  
  
"Kaye's in recovery, I think that Ryo is with her." Cye replied.  
  
"Recovery? Cye what happened?" Kento asked in concern. Cye looked around, and then he motioned them to follow him.  
  
"Get inside, then we'll tell you everything." Cye replied as he opened the door. They walked into the room, and saw that Ryo was holding onto Kaye's hand and talking quietly under his breath.   
  
"Ryo, what happened? Why is she in a hospital bed? Did Lieah do this?" Sage asked.  
  
"I think so." Ryo replied as he kept his head down.  
  
"You think so? Is that all you can say Ryo? You and Cye were supposed to watch over her! How could you let this happen?" Kento asked angrily as he picked up Ryo by the shirt collar and held him against the wall.  
  
"Kento...put him down." Kaye said quietly as she slowly turned her head towards them.  
  
Kento slowly lowered Ryo down from the wall and let him go. "All right, everybody just calm down, especially you Kento, and listen to what we have to say." Cye said as he explained what happened.   
  
Just as Cye was done explaining, one of the doctors came in. "Oh, I didn't know that the patient has more visitors. And it looks like she's finally awake, that's a good sign. Well, since you're all here, then I suppose that I can tell you the good news. It looks like that your friend here can go home. The amount of smoke that was taken in didn't do that much damage. Also, she's very lucky that she doesn't have broken legs, she's just going to be sore and bruised for a while, considering how much weight that beam was putting on her." the doctor said as he looked over her chart and then left the room.  
  
Kento looked over at her with relief, and then his expression quickly changed. Kaye knew what this meant. "Don't say it Kento." Kaye said sternly.  
  
"But Kaye..." Kento replied.  
  
"No." Kaye said.  
  
"We, I told...warned you about Lieah. You shouldn't have..." Kento replied.  
  
"Kento, this isn't the time or place to get into it again. Please." Kaye said as she grabbed onto his hand.  
  
"Kaye, do you have any idea of what went through my mind when Rowen got Cye's phone call? Do you have any idea how I felt?" Kento asked as he grabbed onto her hands.  
  
"I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. There was only one thing on my mind at the time. I had to find Lee, but after I found out that it was all a set up, I..." Kaye replied as she shut her eyes and turned away.  
  
Kento let go of her hands and stood up. "What? She wouldn't, not here." Kento thought as he left the room.  
  
"Kento, where are you going?" Ryo asked as he ran after him.  
  
"It's Lieah, she's here." Kento replied as he quickly walked through the halls.  
  
"Are you sure? Maybe we should..." Ryo said as he was trying to keep up with him.  
  
"I'm sure, and no we don't have time to get the others. She might try to attack Kaye again, we have to stop her from trying. Besides, Kaye is safer with the others in her room." Kento replied as they finally made it outside.  
  
"Hello lover, I was wondering what it would take to get your attention." Lieah said as she was standing by a tree.  
  
"You bitch! You're gonna pay for what you did, and another thing stop calling me lover! I never have been and I never will be." Kento replied angrily.  
  
"Funny, that's pretty much what she said, just before her accident." Lieah said with an evil grin.  
  
In Kaye's room, "I don't like it, they've been gone for way too long." Rowen said as he was leaning back against the wall.  
  
"Then what are we doing waiting here? Let's go and look for them." Kaye replied as she came out of the bathroom with a new change of clothes.  
  
"Whoa Kaye, you're not going anywhere. We'll go and look around, you're staying here." Sage said sternly.  
  
"The doc said that I'm fine. So there's no reason why I can't help you find them. Besides, if you leave me here, then I'm just going to sneak out and find them on my own. You know that I will." Kaye replied with that determined look of hers.  
  
"All right, you win but make sure that you stay close ok." Cye said as they left the room.   
  
"No problem Cye." Kaye replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes. 


	4. ch 4

"Where are they, I don't get it. One minute they're here and the next. It's not like they   
could just vanish. Unless..." Sage said as he looked out towards the back.  
  
"Then what are we standing around here for? They might need help." Kaye replied as she started to run towards the back.  
  
Outside, "Why do you resist me?" Lieah asked as she glared at Kento.  
  
"I have a better question. What did you think that you could gain from attacking Kaye like that? You almost killed her!" Kento asked angrily.  
  
"Aw, you mean that I didn't? Well then, I'm just going to have to try harder the next time." Lieah replied with an evil smirk.  
  
"You're not going anywhere near Kaye! Especially if I have anything to say about it!" Kento said angrily as he glared at her.  
  
"You know what? I don't think that you have to worry about that." Lieah replied.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Kento asked.  
  
"Kento, over there!" Ryo said as he motioned to where Mia, Kaye and the other Ronins were coming from.  
  
"What are you doing out here?" Kento asked as they finally got to them.  
  
"When you and Ryo didn't come back right away, we've decided to look for you." Kaye replied.  
  
"Since everyone is here, why don't we get things going?" Lieah asked in amusement.  
  
"You're crazy! You can't attack here, you'll hurt innocent people!" Kaye replied in disbelief.  
  
"There is no such thing as an innocent!" Lieah hissed angrily as she disappeared and then   
reappeared beside Kaye with her weapon raised and ready to attack.   
  
Just as she was going to go through with her attack, "NO!" Kento shouted as he charged at her.   
  
Lieah quickly turned around and sliced at him, making Kento fall backwards to the ground barely missing him. "Kento!" Kaye cried out as she started towards him.   
  
Lieah quickly turned back around with her weapon at ready. "Sorry, but I don't think so. You're staying right there." Lieah said as she glared dangerously at her. Kaye quickly stopped and then angrily stared her down.   
  
"Why are we just standing here? Shouldn't we be doing something?" Mia asked as she and the others watched what was going on.  
  
"We can't Mia, because if we try anything, she might hurt one of them, and we can't take that chance." Ryo replied as he looked on angrily.  
  
"I can't, no I won't let her take Kento from me! She knows that I won't give up without a fight. So then what is she waiting for? An invitation?" Kaye thought as she was trying to think of something.   
  
Suddenly, a laugh could be heard over the already intense situation. "What's so funny?" Cye asked as he glared at Lieah angrily.  
  
"How all of you could be so clueless about what's going on?" Lieah replied with a smirk.   
  
"What are you talking about?" Rowen asked.  
  
"I'm talking about the fact that I already have my prize." Lieah replied.  
  
"No way! Get your eyes checked, Kento's right behind you." Kaye said.  
  
"Are you sure that's actually him?" Lieah asked with an evil grin.  
  
"Of course I'm sure, who else would it be?" Kaye replied skeptically.  
  
Another sound of laughter started to fill the air, "sorry Kaye, but I'm not Kento." the person said as he got up from the ground and looked over at her.  
  
"What?" Kaye asked as she looked back at him as he changed from Kento and back to himself. "Alex?"   
  
"You got it! It took you long enough to figure it out." Alex replied with a smirk as he joined his sister.  
  
"If Kento isn't here, then you're not Ryo." Sage said as they turned around.   
  
"That's right, Ryo is just one of my illusions." Lieah replied as the illusion of Ryo disappeared.  
  
"But how, when?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"It was so amusing, they didn't even see it coming. The how, well I think that I'll let you try and figure that out for yourselves." Lieah replied as she laughed.  
  
"Where are they?" Mia asked angrily.  
  
"Sorry, but that piece of information I'm going to keep for myself. I suppose that I could bring back Wildfire." Lieah replied as she made Ryo appear. Ryo landed face down on the ground barely moving. A groan escaped from his lips, as he was starting to slowly come around.   
  
"Ryo!" Sage said as they ran over to him. Kaye was about to join them, but Lieah kept her at bay.  
  
"No I don't think so, you're staying right where you are." Lieah said as she waved her weapon around.  
  
"Ryo, are you all right? What happened, where's Kento?" Rowen asked as Ryo finally made it to his feet.  
  
"The last thing I remember was that Kento left Kaye's hospital room because he sensed Lieah nearby, and I was following him. But then just as we stepped outside, everything went black." Ryo replied as he rubbed his head.  
  
"You bitch! You're gonna pay!" Kaye said as she stared at her angrily.  
  
"Hey! My sister isn't the only one that deserves the credit here. I gotta say, I was pretty convincing." Alex replied with a smirk as he crossed his arm.  
  
"Yes Alex you were very convincing. Now Kaye, if I were you, I would calm that temper of yours down, and hear what I have to say, unless of course you never want to see Kento ever again." Lieah said as she gave an evil grin.  
  
"Don't you even think of hurting him!" Kaye warned angrily.  
  
"Me, hurt him? Now Kaye, why would I want to hurt my lover? You listen here, and listen well because I'm only going to say this once. For some reason, I feel generous, so I'm going to give you a chance to try and get Kento back." Lieah replied.  
  
"What do I have to do?" Kaye asked in a defeated tone.  
  
"Kaye, don't! Don't listen to what she has to say!" Ryo yelled.  
  
"I don't haVe a choice Ryo, I have to!" Kaye yelled back.  
  
"Now that's a good girl. In a few days, I'll come back. And when I do, I want you to be ready." Lieah replied.  
  
"Ready? Ready for what?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Just be ready. Come Alex, I think that it's time that we take our leave." Lieah replied as she and her brother disappeared.   
  
"No...Kento." Kaye whispered in agony as a tear ran down her cheek. 


	5. ch 5

"Hey! Get me out of here!" Kento yelled from his cell.  
  
"Aw, lover has a temper." Lieah taunted.  
  
"If you don't let me out, then I'm gonna bring this whole place, wherever we are, down around our heads!" Kento warned as he glared at her.  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Especially, if you want to keep your precious one alive, and you know from past experience that I always make good on my promises." Lieah warned as she glared back with an evil smile.  
  
"What did you do? Tell me, what did you do?" Kento asked angrily.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't her, it was all me, me, me, me, and well...me! You should have seen their faces when they found out that I was you. It was priceless!" Alex replied with a smirk.  
  
"Why you..! Get over here so I can ring your scrawny neck!" Kento said angrily as he reached through the bars.  
  
"Ah, no I don't think so. I'm not that stupid. I remember the last time that you had your hands around my neck. I had a hard time breathing for a whole week." Alex taunted with a smirk.  
  
"Are you done yet?" Lieah asked as she was starting to get annoyed with her brother.   
  
"Aw, come on sis, let me have a little more fun. Please?" Alex pleaded.  
  
"You're starting to annoy me Alex. Now go and make yourself useful." Lieah replied as she motioned him to leave.  
  
"You're no fun! Fine, I'll go, but on one condition." Alex said before he left.  
  
"And that would be?" Lieah asked as she crossed her arms.  
  
"That I get a chance to torture him some more later." Alex replied.  
  
"Fine, just go." Lieah said.  
  
"You mean it? I can torture him any way that I want, and you won't stop me?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes, yes now would you just leave?" Lieah replied as he finally left them alone.  
  
"He definitely hasn't changed. He's still as crazy as you, maybe even crazier." Kento said as he stood back from the cell door.  
  
"What can I say, he's family. Now what do you say that we get down to business." Lieah replied.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"How's Ryo?" Kaye asked quietly as she stared out the window and watched the sun set.  
  
"He's feeling better. Kaye, how are you? You haven't said anything since we left the hospital." Cye asked as he approached her.  
  
"Cye, it's my fault. It's all my fault! I should have listened to you when you told us that it was a bad idea to split up. If I wasn't so stubborn, then Kento wouldn't..." Kaye replied as she was fighting back tears.  
  
"Kaye, stop. It's not going to be any good if you're going to beat yourself up over what happened. That's suppose to be my department, and I'm not going to let you take that over without a fight." Ryo said with a small smirk as he walked over to them.  
  
Kaye gave a small giggle, and then wiped her eyes. "That's better, now I know that Kento wouldn't want you to do this to yourself, right." Cye said as he laid a comforting hand onto her shoulder.   
  
"Yea I guess that you're right, but how are we going to get him back if we don't even know where he is?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"I know that you don't want to hear this." Ryo started to say.  
  
"Ryo no, don't say it." Kaye replied as she shook her head.  
  
"Ryo's right, I'm sorry Kaye, but it looks like we are going to have to wait until Lieah comes back in a few days." Cye said as he squeezed her shoulder.   
  
"I know, but I can't just sit around and wait!" Kaye replied as she grabbed onto Cye's hand and lowered it down.  
  
"Hold on a second, there maybe a way." Cye said.  
  
"Come on Cye, are you going to tell us, or what?" Kaye asked anxiously.  
  
"What's the one thing that you can do alone that none of us can?" Cye asked in a mischievous tone.  
  
"Cye quit teasing. There's nothing that I can do alone that none of you..." Kaye asked as her eyes went wide as she finally realized what he was talking about.  
  
"Cye, you're a genius!" Kaye exclaimed in excitement as she gave Cye a big hug.  
  
"Hey! What's going on in here? We could hear you guys all the way upstairs." Rowen said as he and the others ran into the living room.  
  
"Sorry Rowen, it looks like you're not the only genius of the group." Cye replied as he gave a big grin while he stood up.  
  
"You guys mind telling us what's going on? And what does Cye mean that I'm not the only genius here?" Rowen asked in confusion.  
  
"Cye figured out a way that I could find out about Kento." Kaye replied as her eyes lit up.  
  
"You mean by dream walking." Mia said with a grin as she looked over to her.  
  
"You got it, but the only way that I can pull it off, is if someone is sleeping, or if they're in some kind of meditation. Unless..." Kaye replied as she crossed her arms and leaned back onto the wall.  
  
"Kento is definitely not the type to meditate, that's like saying Sage will let his hair go long." Rowen said with a smirk.  
  
"Yea." Sage replied as he nodded in agreement, and just then Sage's eyes went wide and glared at Rowen. "Hey! Wait a minute; no one talks about my hair like that! Come back here Rowen!"  
  
Laughter filled the room as they watched Sage-chasing Rowen around the mansion. "I just hope that Cye's right. So far as we know, Lieah and Alex don't know about that fact about me." Kaye thought as she snuck out of the room and headed upstairs. Cye noticed that Kaye was no longer in the room. He had a pretty good hunch of where she went. So he went upstairs, and opened up the door that leads to his and Kento's room, where he found her standing over by the desk holding a picture.   
  
He then quietly walked over to her, "hey..." Cye said quietly as he gently laid his hand onto her shoulder. Kaye not paying attention was startled and dropped the picture that she was holding. Luckily Cye caught it before it hit the ground.  
  
"Whoa there, ok that's it, you're switching to decaff." Cye said with a teasing grin as he handed the picture to her.  
  
"What? No way, that stuff tastes terrible! So forget that." Kaye replied as she grinned back.  
  
"Kaye, how come you snuck up here?" Cye asked as they sat down on Kento's bed.  
  
"I didn't want to ruin everyone's good time. Besides, I needed to get something to act as an anchor for when I'm going to dream walk." Kaye replied as she stared at the picture.  
  
"An anchor? Wait a minute, you lost me. Since when do you need to have an anchor? You've dream walked many times without one, so why is now any different?" Cye asked in confusion.  
  
"Because this time, I'm going to an astral level, and I've never tried it that high before. So that's why I need an anchor. I've heard it being done only once before, but..." Kaye replied as she kept her eyes onto the picture.  
  
"But what? Kaye, what happened to the one that walked on that level?" Cye asked.  
  
"He became lost." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Lost, how?" Cye asked in concern.  
  
"I'm not exactly sure." Kaye replied as she stood up and walked out to the hallway.   
  
"Kaye don't, it's too risky!" Cye said as he ran out to the hallway and grabbed onto her arm.   
  
"Hey, what's with the yelling?" Ryo asked as he and the rest of them ran upstairs.  
  
"Cye, he's worth the risk." Kaye said as she looked into his eyes.  
  
"Whoa, wait a minute. Time out! What risk, what are you two arguing about?" Rowen asked as he looked at them in confusion.  
  
"And why are you holding that picture?" Sage added in confusion.  
  
A few minutes passed by in silence, then Cye decided to fill the rest of them in on the conversation that he and Kaye had not too long ago. "Kaye, Cye's right it's too risky. You can't!" Mia said in concern.  
  
"It's like I told Cye when the rest of you were running up here, that he's worth the risk. I have to do this." Kaye replied with that determined look of hers that they all knew too well.   
  
"You're going to do it, aren't you." Ryo said as a statement rather than a question.   
  
"Yea I am." Kaye replied with determinate tone in her voice. 


	6. ch 6

"Kaye, isn't there anything that we can say to change your mind?" Sage asked as he and the others watched her get ready.  
  
"No there isn't, I'm going to do this. I have to..." Kaye replied as she sat down on the floor and set the picture in front of her.  
  
"Since we can't talk you out of this, then what can we do to help?" Cye asked.  
  
"If you really want to help, then make sure that nothing happens to the anchor. Because if something happens to it, then I'm not sure if I can come back." Kaye replied.  
  
Just before Kaye got into her trance, "Kaye, watch yourself all right." Mia said as she looked over to her in concern.  
  
"Don't worry Mia, I'll be back before you know it." Kaye replied as she threw her a reassuring smile and then closed her eyes and went into her trance.  
  
"I don't have a good feeling about this, come back soon." Mia thought in concern.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Whoa, I can't believe that it actually worked. Ok, where the heck am I, and how do I find out where Kento is being held?" Kaye thought as she walked down the corridor. As she continued walking, she could hear voices.  
  
"Come on sis, you said that I could." Alex wined.  
  
"Alex, I already told you, you can torture him later. Right now leave him alone." Lieah replied in annoyance.  
  
"Torture him! I don't think so!" Kaye thought in anger.  
  
"Oh all right, have it your way. But I am rather curious about something." Alex wondered as he looked at her in curiosity.  
  
"Yes?" Lieah replied as she looked at him skeptically.  
  
"I was wondering, if you have feelings for Kento, then why would you allow me to torture him? I thought that you would do anything to prevent me from doing so?" Alex asked.  
  
"What feelings? Besides, this is basically revenge for him hurting me." Lieah replied as she turned her back to him.   
  
"So then why won't you let me go and have my fun?" Alex wined.  
  
"I said no! There's something else that I have in mind." Lieah replied as she slowly turned back around.   
  
"Oh, really, and what dear sister would that be?" Alex asked as he was now intrigued.  
  
"I was thinking...wait!" Lieah said.  
  
"What?" Alex asked.  
  
"There's someone here." Lieah replied as she began to look around.  
  
"Oh shit, it looks like I've over stayed my welcome. I better hurry up and find Kento before they find me." Kaye thought as she spotted the stairway and ran down the stairs.  
  
"Lieah, who's here?" Alex asked in confusion.  
  
"I'm not sure, but the presence has disappeared, except that I can still sense a hint of it."   
  
Lieah replied as she walked out of the room and headed for the stairs. Alex shook his head, and then followed right behind her.  
  
"It's too dark down here. How am I suppose to find him if I can't see? Wait a minute, what am I talking about? Duh, why didn't I think about this before?" Kaye thought as she closed her eyes and tried to get a fix on Kento. After a few seconds of searching for his dream patterns, it didn't take long for her to find him. Kaye appeared right next to him; she looked down onto his sleeping form and gave a small smile.   
  
"Kento, hey Kento wake up." Kaye coaxed as she tried to wake him. Kento frowned, and then began to slowly open his eyes.   
  
"Kaye? No, you're not here. It's just an illusion." Kento said in disbelief as he was rubbing his eyes as he sat up.  
  
"No Kento, I'm not an illusion. I'm here, but only in the astral way of speaking." Kaye replied with a small smile.  
  
"Astral what? How?" Kento asked in confusion. Kaye quickly looked out the cell door and then started to explain what was going on.  
  
"Kaye are you out of your mind? What were you thinking, taking a risk like that?" Kento asked.  
  
"You know what, that's exactly what the others said. I told them that you're worth any risk, and   
I mean...any risk." Kaye replied.  
  
"Well, well, well isn't this sweet. I said that I would come back and visit you in a few days, and here you are doing some kind of astral projection gig. Impressive, but a bit over rated. Wouldn't you say so Alex?" Lieah asked as she and her brother appeared in front of the cell door.   
  
"Yea, I would have to agree with ya on that one. Been there, done that. You know what though sis, it's been a while since we've actually found someone that would be foolish to even attempt something that dangerous." Alex replied with a smirk.   
  
"I know exactly what you mean. Do you remember what happened to the last person that tried to walk while in the astral form?" Lieah asked with an evil smile.  
  
"Was he lost forever in the astral plane, or was it something else?" Alex asked.  
  
"I believe that it was something else. Now what do you suppose happened to him? Oh wait I know, we killed him." Lieah replied as she glared dangerously over at Kaye.   
  
"You know Lieah, it has been a while since we've fought someone that's in astral form." Alex said as he glanced over at his sister.   
  
"You're staying away from Kaye, do you hear me?" Kento warned as he got in front of her.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"I don't like this, she's been gone way too long. She should have been back by now." Ryo said as he was pacing the room.  
  
"Ryo relax, I'm sure that if anything happened, Kaye would have been back by now." Sage replied as he was leaning back on the wall.  
  
"Come on Ryo, you know that Sage is right, and besides nothing has happened to the anchor. So there's no need for you to worry." Rowen said as he tried to put him at ease.  
  
"Yea, you're probably right." Ryo replied as he finally stopped pacing.  
  
Just then, "guys, guys!" Mia said as she was trying to get their attention.  
  
"Mia, what the..?" Ryo asked as he and the others stared at the anchor.  
  
"The anchor, it's floating!" Cye said as he stood up.  
  
"Ok, that is definitely not normal." Rowen said.  
  
"Good observation there genius. So what are we suppose to do about it?" Sage asked. Just as Rowen was about to answer; a sudden loud gasp of breath interrupted him. They looked down and saw that Kaye was now lying on the ground.   
  
"I told you that something was wrong!" Ryo said angrily.  
  
"Ryo, do you mind? This isn't the time for I told you so!" Sage replied as he quickly kneeled down next to her.  
  
Just as Sage went down, the anchor quickly dropped to the floor and shattered. Sage quickly looked from the anchor and back to Kaye. He then carefully moved his hand over her face, "she's not breathing." Sage said as he quickly looked up. 


	7. ch 7

"Come on Sage, does she have a pulse or not? Answer me!" Mia said frantically.  
  
"Mia, calm down. I can feel it, but it's weak." Sage replied as he glanced at her.  
  
"What are you waiting for? Start healing her already." Mia said as she looked over to her friend.  
  
"I can't." Sage replied as he closed his eyes.  
  
"What do you mean that you can't?" Ryo asked in confusion.  
  
"I mean that I've never tried to heal someone when they're in astral form. I don't know what it'll do to her." Sage replied as he was trying to keep calm.  
  
"So what are we suppose to do then? Sit around and hope that she comes back on her own? In case you forgot, her anchor is laying over there in pieces, and she needs it in order to get back." Cye said with a hint of anger.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Unfortunately lover, there's no way that you can protect your so called precious one from us."   
Lieah said as she and Alex transformed into their astral projections.  
  
"I can try!" Kento replied as he glared at them in anger.  
  
"I can't have Kento getting hurt. Here goes nothing." Kaye thought as she finally came to terms on what she had to do.  
  
"You wanna fight, then come on we'll fight." Kaye said as she glared angrily at them.  
  
"Kaye, don't. You don't know what they're capable of, I do." Kento replied as he tried to stop her.  
  
"I'm sorry Kento, but she's right. You can't protect me from them when we're in the astral form.   
We would go right through you." Kaye said quietly.  
  
"Kaye." Kento replied quietly as he looked at her in concern.  
  
"Don't worry Kento, I'll be all right." Kaye said as she looked at him with soft eyes.  
  
"Well then, we can do this fight the hard way, or we can do it the easy way. The choice is up to you." Alex taunted as Kaye faced off with them.  
  
"If you think that I'm going to be scared off by the likes of you, then you're sadly mistaken. So shut up and fight." Kaye replied as she got into fighting position.  
  
"Ooh, a strong fighting spirit, I like that. It will make this a lot more interesting." Lieah   
said as she disappeared in a blink of an eye, and then quickly reappeared swiping at Kaye's head.   
  
Kaye quickly ducked and rolled out of the way, and then stood up to face them. "Oh man, she's fast, and I'm sure that Alex is just as fast. I have to be quicker, or I'm done for." Kaye thought angrily.  
  
"Not bad, but you would do much better if you would pick up the pace just a little bit." Alex said as he took a swipe at her shoulder.   
  
"Ok that's it, I've had enough! It's time for me to go onto the offensive." Kaye thought as she delivered a kick to Alex's stomach, and then right after that a punch directly to his face.   
  
"Yea! Nice shot!" Kento cheered as Alex staggered back in shock.  
  
"Yes, I would have to agree, that was a nice shot. But don't think that I'll allow you to get   
the better of me a second time." Alex said as he looked at her and grinned.  
  
"Hey Cheshire, what are you grinning about?" Kaye asked as she tried to keep her eyes on them.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough." Lieah replied as she took a quick glance at her brother, and then both of them at the same time advanced towards her. Just as they were getting closer, they both disappeared.   
  
"What the..? Where did they go? I can't sense them anywhere." Kaye wondered, as she stayed alert as she was looking around.  
  
"Kaye, watch out!" Kento warned as he saw them dive bomb Kaye from above. She tried to dodge their attack, but they were just too fast. Kaye found herself being pinned to the ground with   
Alex's hand at her neck choking her, while Lieah was kneeling next to him while her hand was glowing.  
  
Back at the mansion...  
  
"Cye, what's with you?" Sage asked in confusion.  
  
"What do you mean what's with me? In case you didn't notice, Kaye is probably fighting for her life, and we're here playing twenty questions." Cye replied as his anger started to climb.  
  
"Ah Huston, we have a problem." Rowen said as he noticed that a pair of handprints was forming around her neck.  
  
Jumping back to the fight...  
  
"Man, you're definitely not a feather weight! Now let go!" Kaye said as was struggling to get free.  
  
"Come on Lieah, I'm going to need some help here." Alex said as he was fighting to keep his hold on her.  
  
"It looks like she's a lot stronger than we thought. I'm going to have to take some extreme measures." Lieah replied as she drew back her hand and plunged it into Kaye's shoulder. Kaye yelled in pain, as Lieah drove deeper and deeper into the shoulder.   
  
"No!" Kento yelled as he watched from his cell. Kaye's movements began to become slower and slower as Lieah finally pulled her hand out. As soon as Alex saw that Lieah pulled away, he carefully got off of Kaye's astral form and backed away.   
  
"I can't, no I won't give up. I won't." Kaye thought as she fought to stand.  
  
"You're a stubborn one. Maybe a little too stubborn. You just don't know when to stay down, do you?" Lieah asked in annoyance.  
  
"Nope I guess not." Kaye replied with a smirk.  
  
"Well then, maybe it's time that I put you in your rightful place!" Lieah exclaimed angrily as she started to charge at Kaye while her hand started to glow again.  
  
"You know something, you should really get a doctor to look at your hand. That's definitely not normal." Kaye replied as she dodged the attack.  
  
At the mansion...  
  
"What the? Hey look the handprints, they're disappearing." Ryo said as he directed their   
attention towards Kaye's neck.  
  
"Her breathing is back to normal. Now, the question is how are we suppose to get her back here?" Sage asked as he checked her over.  
  
'Cye!' a voice whispered inside of his head. As soon as he heard his name, Cye rushed over to Kaye's body pushed Sage out of the way, kneeled down beside it and grabbed onto her hand.  
  
"What the heck? Cye?" Sage asked in confusion. Cye gave no response as he closed his eyes and started to concentrate.   
  
Then a light blue light covered them both, "hold on, I'm coming." Cye thought as he concentrated harder.  
  
At the fight...  
  
'Kaye!' a voice replied.  
  
"Wha..who?" Kaye wondered in confusion.  
  
"Kaye watch it!" Kento warned as Alex was coming from behind. Kaye jumped to the side, just as Alex rushed past her.   
  
"Damn! Hey all right that's it, they'll be no more comments from the peanut gallery!" Alex said as he gave a quick annoyed glance to Kento.  
  
"Hey, who are you to call me a peanut gallery, you reject from the funny farm?" Kento asked in annoyance.  
  
"Why would I be sensing two energy signatures from her? I should only be sensing one, but this new one is somehow...familiar." Lieah thought in confusion.  
  
"Lieah, look at her shoulder! It's healing! How can that be possible?" Alex asked in disbelief.  
  
"He's right, Kaye isn't a healer like Sage. So then what's going on?" Kento wondered in   
confusion.  
  
"Hmm, it looks like I'm going to have to go a different route. There's no way that I can face her now. It looks like that I'm going to go with my plans a little sooner than anticipated, oh well." Lieah thought as she disappeared and then reappeared right in front of Kento. She raised her glowing hand and plunged it right into his chest. Kento was trying to hold back his yells of pain, but the pain kept on increasing until finally he yelled out.   
  
"Stop it! No more! Please, stop hurting him!" Kaye yelled as she tried to get to him. But just as she was almost there, Alex got in her way.   
  
"You care very much for him, don't you?" Alex asked out of the blue as he looked at her with curious eyes.   
  
"I love him with all of my heart and soul." Kaye replied with conviction.  
  
"Take back what you said!" Lieah yelled as her anger climbed.  
  
"No! I will never renounce my feelings! What I say is the truth, and there's nothing that you can say or do to change that!" Kaye replied with fire in her eyes.  
  
"What can I do? If I don't do something soon, then I might lose him. I can't lose him, I just can't!" Kaye thought in desperation. Just then, a light blue light suddenly covered the room making Lieah pull out her hand from Kento's chest and making her and Alex return back to their normal bodies. Kento fell down to his knees trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Kento!" Kaye said in concern as she rushed over to him. Just before she got to him, she   
vanished as well as the light blue light. 


	8. ch 8

"Ouch, would someone make that stupid phone stop ringing?" Alex asked in annoyance as he was slowly getting up.  
  
"It's not the phone you idiot, it's your head." Lieah replied angrily as she braced herself   
against the wall.  
  
"What happened just now?" Alex asked as he was finally to his feet.  
  
"It looks like to me that you two got your butts kicked!" Kento replied with a smirk.  
  
"Wait a minute, you mean to tell us that she's gone?" Alex asked in confusion.  
  
"Yea, but before she did, she left ya a little going away present." Kento replied with a grin.  
  
Lieah and Alex quickly glanced at each other, "your face," Lieah said as she pointed to a long cut that ran along his left side.  
  
"What!" Alex replied as he put his hand up to his face and then pulled it away, and found blood smeared on it. "Oh yea, you think that this is funny, then why don't you look at your face too." he said as he pointed back at her.  
  
"That bitch!" Lieah replied angrily as she stormed off upstairs, as Alex quickly followed.  
  
"That's my girl." Kento thought as he grinned.  
  
Elsewhere...  
  
"What's going on, where am I?" Kaye thought in confusion as she was looking around.   
  
"You're in the astral plane, where else." a voice out of nowhere answered back.  
  
"Who are you, why don't you show yourself?" Kaye asked still confused.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I can't just yet. Besides, I'm rather particular on who I talk to." the voice replied.  
  
"Not exactly the best time for the shy routine. You obviously know what's going on around here, and still you refuse to give me a straight answer? why?" Kaye asked.  
  
"You'll understand why when the time comes. In the meantime, I think that it's time for the two of you to go back home." the voice replied as Kaye's broken anchor appeared.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean by the two of us, and how am ok, or I we suppose to get back, the anchor is broken?" Kaye asked as she held the broken pieces. Just then, again the light blue light began to glow, but this time it was around the anchor.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Ok now this is just too weird." Ryo said as he and the others watched as the anchor again floated in the air, but this time with a light blue glow around it.   
  
"What's going on? It looks like the anchor is fixing itself, but how?" Mia asked in confusion.   
  
"If I would have to venture a guess, judging by the color of the glow, then I would say that Cye is doing this." Rowen replied as he looked between the floating anchor and Cye as he still was holding onto Kaye's hand.  
  
"Cye? But how?" Sage asked as he glanced at Rowen.  
  
"I'm not entirely sure, but we're going to have to wait until they get back from wherever they are before we can get any answers." Rowen replied as he was leaning back against the wall crossing his arms.  
  
Just then the light blue glow around the anchor stopped, and it began to fall. "Someone catch it before it hits the ground!" Mia said quickly. In lightning speed, Ryo quickly dove for the anchor before it came inches of crashing onto the floor.   
  
"Nice catch Ryo!" Sage said as he gave Ryo a small grin.  
  
"Yea thanks, I guess all of those years training paid off huh." Ryo replied with a grin.   
  
A groan followed by a thud, turned everyone's attention towards Cye, as he fell over on the ground with exhaustion. "Cye!" Rowen said as he kneeled down beside him.  
  
"Kaye?" Cye whispered quietly.  
  
"Cye, what?" Rowen asked.  
  
"Kaye, is she all right?" Cye whispered again.  
  
"She's just fine Cye." Sage replied as he kneeled down.  
  
"Good." Cye said with a weak smile before he closed his eyes.  
  
"Cye!" Mia exclaimed in concern.  
  
"He's ok Mia, I'm guessing that whatever happened took a lot out of him. I think that we better get these two into their own beds so they can get some rest." Sage replied as he lifted Cye from the floor. Rowen did the same with Kaye, and placed her in her bed, while Sage took Cye to his room.  
  
"What do you think could of happened?" Mia asked as they walked out into the hallway.  
  
"I'm not sure Mia, but you can bet that whatever happened it's not over." Sage replied as they went downstairs into the living room and sat down.  
  
Back with Lieah and Alex...  
  
"I can't believe this! We went through all of that just so she could get away! Lieah, are you listening to me?" Alex ranted as he was pacing the room.  
  
"Yes Alex, I'm listening." Lieah replied calmly.  
  
"How could you be so calm? I thought that what she did, you would be angrier than me? So what's the deal, huh?" Alex asked in annoyance.  
  
"Alex, Alex, Alex you're acting such like a child. Of course I'm angry about this, but if you would just calm yourself for a minute, you'll see that everything is going just as we planned."   
Lieah replied with an evil smile.  
  
"Are you out of your mind? How can you say that everything is going according to the plan?" Alex asked as he looked at her in disbelief.  
  
"Alex, if you weren't my brother, then I would have gotten rid of you a long time ago. Very   
well, I guess that I'm going to have to explain it to you all over again." Lieah replied with a smirk. Lieah started explaining the plan to him, it took some time, but Alex finally understood why his sister wasn't as angry of how everything was working out to their advantage.   
  
"Now do you understand?" Lieah asked as she glanced at him.  
  
"Yea, thanks for clearing that up. Now, I do have one more question." Alex replied.  
  
"Very well, what's your question?" Lieah asked with a hint of annoyance.  
  
"When do you plan to put this into effect?" Alex asked.  
  
"During the next full moon." Lieah replied as she looked out the window.  
  
"The next full moon, but that's only in a couple of days? So, then how in that short amount of time do you think that you'll pull this off?" Alex asked.  
  
"Leave that to me, just be ready for when the time comes." Lieah replied as her hand started to glow.  
  
Back at the mansion...  
  
"MMmm, where am I?" Kaye asked groggily as she carefully and slowly sat up in her bed.   
  
Sounds of knocking came from her door. "Kaye, are you up?" Mia asked as she opened up the door and peaked her head in.  
  
"Yea Mia, come on in." Kaye replied as she moved her legs over to the side of her bed.  
  
"Morning, so, how are you feeling?" Mia asked as she grabbed a chair and sat down next to her.   
  
"A little light headed, and somewhat sore, but other than that I guess I feel ok." Kaye replied as she looked over to her.  
  
"Good, I'm glad that you're all right. Now, I'm going to go and check on Cye." Mia said as she started to get up.   
  
"Whoa, wait a minute Mia, what are you talking about? Is Cye hurt?" Kaye asked in concern.  
  
Mia waited a few minutes before replying. "Mia?" Kaye asked again.  
  
"No Kaye, Cye's not hurt. For some reason, something completely drained his energy. We're not exactly sure what, but..." Mia replied as she tried to calm her.  
  
"But what Mia? Please, you have to tell me everything that happened when I was in my astral form." Kaye said with pleading eyes. Mia took a deep breath and began to fill her in.   
  
Then about fifteen minutes later, "he did that? Ah Mia, would you mind if I checked up on Cye?   
I think that the two of us should talk." Kaye said as she stood up.   
  
Mia smiled at her and then turned around and went downstairs. Kaye quickly changed her clothes, before leaving she picked up the picture that she used as an anchor. she looked carefully at it, there were no indications of any scratches or broken pieces anywhere, it was like nothing happened, but she knew better. Then she went over to Cye's and Kento's room. Kaye knocked onto the door, and stuck her head inside. "Cye, are you awake?" Kaye asked quietly.  
  
"Kaye, morning. Yea I'm awake, come on in." Cye replied as he sat up. Kaye quickly entered the room and shut the door behind her.   
  
"Cye, Mia filled me in on what happened yesterday." Kaye said as she walked over to the desk and put the picture down.  
  
"She did huh." Cye replied as he stood up.  
  
"Yea, Cye I'm greatful for what you did, beyond words, but what you pulled was also one of the craziest stunts that I've ever heard you do. You've could have gotten hurt! What possessed you to pull something like that? " Kaye asked as she slammed both of her hands down onto the desk.  
  
"What did you expect me to do? I wasn't just going to stand by and just do nothing!" Cye exclaimed as he grabbed onto Kaye's shoulders and turned her around to face him. 


	9. ch 9

"Cye, I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that..." Kaye said quietly as she   
closed her eyes and lowered her head.  
  
Cye's anger subsided, as he looked at her with concerned eyes. "Hey, it's all right. I   
shouldn't have snapped at you either. With all of the tension of Lieah and Alex holding Kento, and you doing that astral walk, I guess that I felt like something had to be done. When it comes down to it, I felt just like you, tired of just sitting on the sidelines and waiting for them to make their move." Cye explained.  
  
Kaye opened up her eyes and then raised her head. "Cye, it's just that I can't stand it when someone that I care about is in some kind of trouble. No matter if it's Kento, you, or any of the others." Kaye replied quietly as she met his gaze.  
  
"Kaye, we all feel the same way. But you have to know that whatever happens, everything will work out." Cye said as he gave her a small smile.  
  
"Yea, I know that you're right. Thanks Cye." Kaye replied as she smiled back.  
  
A sudden knock on the door made both of them quickly turn around. "Hey are you two going to come down or what?" Ryo asked as he poked his head in.  
  
"Yea Ryo we're coming." Cye replied as he and Kaye followed Ryo to the main floor where everyone else was waiting for them.  
  
"It's about time that you two decided to join us." Rowen said as they entered the kitchen.  
  
"Yea, yea whatever Rowen." Kaye replied as she darted a quick look towards him.  
  
"So what's the deal? Are you two going to tell us what happened or what?" Ryo asked.  
  
"You're definitely not wasting any time getting to the point, are you Ryo?" Cye replied.  
  
"Sorry, it's just that..." Ryo said as he was trying to explain. Kaye leaned back onto the counter, as she looked over at him.  
  
She gave a small sigh, before going into the whole story of what happened from the time that she went into her trance for being in her astral form, all the way to the conversation between her and Cye. When she was done, there was complete silence in the room for about the next what seemed like to be ten minutes until, "so, what do we do now?" Sage asked as he broke the silence.  
  
"To be honest, I don't really know. I guess that Ryo was right; we have to wait until Lieah arrives in a couple of days. Maybe I was being too rash, I thought that maybe if I could pull it off, then Kento would be back here with us." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Maybe you were..." Rowen began to say.  
  
"Thanks a lot, Rowen." Kaye replied in annoyance.  
  
"You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, maybe you were, but then again maybe you weren't." Rowen said.  
  
"Ah Rowen, come again?" Cye asked in confusion.   
  
"All I'm saying is that with everything that happened, thanks to Kaye, we know a little more of what's going on, and also thanks to Cye for somehow bringing her back. How that was possible, I'm actually stumped for once, but the important thing is that the both of you are all right." Rowen replied with a glance in his direction.  
  
"So then I guess it's decided." Mia said as she crossed her arms.  
  
"Yea, looks like it." Sage replied.  
  
"Kento, I don't know how, but I promise. No matter what it takes, I'll make sure that you'll come back to me...to us." Kaye vowed as she clutched onto her silver kanji orb that she wears around her neck.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Ok, ok come on Kento you have got to think of somehow to get out of this crazy place. I know that if I use my sure-kill, this whole place will come crashing down. Even though it would be fun, I would like to get back home alive and in one piece." Kento thought as he was looking around.  
  
"Time for me to have some fun, and we know that you can't run..." Alex sang as he was walking over to Kento's cell.  
  
"You're giving me a headache, so I hope that your stupid singing is done." Kento replied in annoyance.  
  
Alex gave him a quick look and then turned away, "now where did I put it?" Alex mused as he was looking for something.  
  
"Don't mind him lover. Now what do you say that we get down to business?" Lieah asked with an evil smile.  
  
"Whatever you're selling, I don't want any. So go and take it elsewhere." Kento replied with a smirk.  
  
"You're still as brass as ever." Lieah said with a mock hurt look.  
  
"Yea, well you're still a hundred percent psycho with no heart." Kento replied.  
  
"Ah, you wound me to the quick!" Lieah said as she pretended that his statement hurt her.  
  
"Get over it already!" Kento replied as he turned his back to her.  
  
"Humph, it doesn't matter what you say, I'll still have my way with you." Lieah said with an evil glint in her eyes.  
  
"Keep dreaming, because when Kaye leads the other Ronins here, they'll get me out and you and your crazy brother will go down hard and fast." Kento replied as he turned back around and faced her with fire in his eyes.   
  
"Kento, Kento, Kento you seem to have forgotten that I told your so called precious one that we'll be back to settle this little matter in a couple of days. So you can just put that thought of a cavalry out of your hard head. So in the meantime, you're all mine." Lieah taunted with a grin.  
  
"Lieah, you said that I could torture him too." Alex whined like a small child.  
  
"Yes of course, you know that I wouldn't go back on my word. Don't you?" Lieah asked as she glanced over at her brother.  
  
"Well duh, I was just making sure that's all." Alex replied as he found what he was looking for.  
  
Back at the mansion...  
  
"What did happen? Why did I, no, how did I know that Kaye was in trouble? And what was with me being able to have my energy bond with hers?" Cye thought in confusion.   
  
"Cye?" Kaye asked as she noticed that he seemed to be in deep thought about something.   
  
"Will it happen again? If there was some kind of connection between us, then why did it just start recently?" Cye wondered.  
  
"Cye!" Kaye said as she waved her hand in front of his face.   
  
"Huh, oh ah Kaye, hi sorry about that, I guess that I have a lot on my mind." Cye replied with a small blush.  
  
"Yea, no kidding. So, what's on your mind? Care to talk about it?" Kaye asked as she looked towards him in concern.  
  
"It's nothing." Cye replied as he avoided eye contact.  
  
"That's a bunch of bull Cye. Whenever any of us have something on our minds, you could always tell. You were always there when we needed someone to talk to, and now the roles are reversed." Kaye said as she kept her eyes on him. Cye kept quiet, keeping his gaze forward.  
  
"All right Cye, if you don't want to talk, then I won't push you. But keep this in mind would ya? If you keep whatever is bothering you bottled up inside, then it'll make you feel like you're going to explode. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I guess that I'll just leave ya with your thoughts. But remember this Cye, I'll be here, if you ever need to talk." Kaye said, as she was about to leave.   
  
Just then Cye quickly grabbed onto her arm. Kaye turned around and slowly looked from her arm, and then all the way up to his face. "Thanks Kaye." Cye replied with a smile.  
  
"Sure Cye, anytime." Kaye said as she smiled back as he let go of her arm.   
  
"Sorry Kaye, but I don't think that this is something that I can talk with you about just yet. I have to try and figure it out for myself." Cye thought as he watched her leave.  
  
"You know what Cye, she's right. You shouldn't be keeping things to yourself, it's not healthy." Sage said as he emerged from the corner.  
  
"And you should know that it's not healthy to listen in on private conversations Sage, especially in this house." Cye replied as he kept his gaze forward.  
  
"Yea, I suppose you're right." Sage said as he leaned back against the wall.  
  
"Question, how long were you standing there, and how much of our conversation did you hear?" Cye asked.  
  
"Actually I was coming inside when the two of you were talking. I didn't want to just walk on in and interrupt. Besides, I didn't have to hear much to know that something is bothering you." Sage replied.  
  
"Sage, now don't you start! I mean it!" Cye replied as he gave a quick glance over at him.  
  
"Ok, ok Cye calm down. I didn't mean anything by it, I was just concerned." Sage said as he held up both of his hands.  
  
"I didn't ask for you to be concerned about me, now did I? I think that we should be more concerned about how to get Kento back, and how to defeat Lieah and Alex when they show up." Cye replied with a hint of anger.  
  
"Hey! Cye take it easy." Sage said as he noticed that Cye was starting to get defensive.  
  
"What's up with him, this is definitely not like Cye." Sage thought as he kept his eyes on him.  
  
"If you don't mind, it's starting to get a little stuffy in here." Cye said, as he was about to leave.  
  
At this point Sage had enough, he reached out and grabbed onto Cye's arm making him stop in his tracks. Cye looked down at Sage's grip and then looked right into Sage's eye. "Let go of my arm Sage." Cye warned with a dangerous look in his eyes.  
  
"Cye, I'm just trying to help you." Sage replied as he kept a hold on him.  
  
"I don't need or want your help Sage, if I did, then I would ask for it. Now if you don't mind, I'll say it one last time, let go of my arm." Cye said as he kept his gaze.  
  
"And if I don't?" Sage asked.  
  
"Do you really want an answer to that question?" Cye asked back as he yanked his arm from Sage's grip. 


	10. ch 10

"Cye, what's gotten into you?" Sage asked sternly.  
  
"Nothing." Cye replied shortly.  
  
"It doesn't look like nothing to me." Sage said.  
  
"You know what Sage, I think that it would be a good idea of you would just back off." Cye replied.  
  
"I know that you're concerned about Kento Cye, we all are, but this isn't the way..." Sage said as he started to lay his hand onto Cye's shoulder.   
  
"I said, back off Sage." Cye warned as he hit Sage's hand away.  
  
"Sorry Cye, but I'm not going to back off." Sage replied as he looked at him.  
  
"All right, you've asked for it." Cye said as he quickly rushed at Sage, pinning him to the wall with his forearm against his throat.   
  
At that moment Ryo and Rowen walked by, "what the...Cye? What are you doing?" Ryo asked as he and Rowen ran into the room and pulled him away from Sage.   
  
"Let go of me! I said let go!" Cye warned as he flipped Ryo onto his back.   
  
"Cye?" Ryo said in disbelief of what he just did.  
  
"I warned you." Cye replied as he glared at him.  
  
"Hey, what's with all of the commotion? We could hear you all the way upstairs." Kaye said as she and Mia ran over to them.  
  
"Kaye, Mia stay back." Rowen replied as he threw a quick glance between them and then back to Cye.  
  
"I'm going out for some air." Cye said as he walked past them, and then slammed the door behind him.  
  
"Cye?" Kaye said, as she was about to go after him.  
  
"Kaye don't, just let him be." Ryo replied as he was getting up.  
  
"Ok then would someone tell us what just happened?" Mia asked as she looked around at them.  
  
"Actually we're not too sure of what happened ourselves Mia. Ryo and I were just walking by, and then for some reason Cye had Sage pinned to the wall." Rowen explained.  
  
"Ok Sage, what do you have to say?" Mia asked as she looked over to him.  
  
"I was coming inside, when I saw Kaye and Cye talking. So I just stayed there waiting for them to finish their conversation." Sage started to explain.  
  
"So basically, you were listening in." Kaye replied as she crossed her arms.  
  
"Hey, it's not polite to walk in on peoples conversations." Sage said as he looked over at her.  
  
"Polite or not, it's still doesn't dismiss the fact that you were listening in." Kaye replied as she was starting to get a little angry.  
  
"Hold on, ok everyone just calm down, I'm sure that no one wants a repeat performance of what just happened." Rowen said as he stepped in.  
  
"You're right Rowen, I think that Cye had a good idea, I'm gone." Kaye replied as she started to go towards the back door.  
  
"Kaye, where are you going?" Mia asked just as she was about to walk out.  
  
"Don't worry Mia, I'm just going to go for a walk. I just need some time to myself, I'll see you guys later." Kaye replied as she walked out the door.  
  
"Oh yea that went well." Sage said sarcastically as he rubbed his throat.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"I can't believe I went out on Sage and Ryo like that. What was I thinking? I warned them, but they didn't listen. Why didn't they listen to me?" Cye wondered as he was staring into the lake.   
  
Not too far away...  
  
"There he is, I should have known that he would be by the lake." Kaye thought as she smiled.   
  
"Hey Cye!" Kaye said as she ran over to him.  
  
"Kaye? What are you doing here? Cye asked in confusion.  
  
"The same as you I suppose, trying to calm down, and get my thoughts together." Kaye replied as she looked over at him.  
  
"Are you sure that you should be out here with me? What makes you think that I won't turn on you too?" Cye asked as he looked back at her.  
  
"I'll take that chance." Kaye replied with a smile.   
  
"This is just too easy, two birds with one stone," a voice said.  
  
"Who said that, who's there?" Cye asked as they looked around.  
  
"Why don't you look down, I'm right under your nose." the voice replied as an image began to show up on the lake's surface.  
  
"Lieah, I should have known it was you. Where's Kento?" Cye asked angrily.  
  
"He's safe with me, for now. Let's not talk about him for the moment, I want to talk about you." Lieah replied with a smirk.  
  
"Me? Why?" Cye asked as he glared at her.  
  
"I'm impressed by you Torrent, I didn't know that you had it in you. Because, of what you two pulled off when she was in her astral form. As well as that little stunt that you pulled off just recently." Lieah replied with a small laugh.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Cye said.  
  
"Oh but I think that you do. That was your light blue energy that somehow bonded with hers. I want to know how you managed to do it." Lieah replied curiously.  
  
"What do you mean?" Cye asked in annoyance.  
  
"Oh come now, don't play coy with me. I know what each one of your energy's looks and feels like from the last time that we fought. So that's how I know it was you who helped her, and gave me this!" Lieah replied angrily as she gestured over to the scar on her face.  
  
"That's a good look for you, Lieah." Cye said with a smirk.  
  
"I would have to agree, it's an improvement." Kaye replied.  
  
"Silence! It would be wise and try not to make me angry. Remember, I still have your friend." Lieah warned.  
  
"Yea, we know. So what do you want? We know that this isn't a social call." Cye replied as he glared at her.  
  
"Hold it, before you say what you want. Show us Kento!" Kaye said as she glared at her.  
  
"You're not exactly in any position to be telling me what to do. But I suppose that I could just this once be generous, and grant your request." Lieah replied with an evil grin, as with a wave of her hand Kento's image showed up in the water.   
  
"Hey lover, why don't you take a look up, you have visitors." Lieah said as she snapped her fingers to get his attention.  
  
"Kento." Kaye said as she went down on her knees.  
  
"Kaye...Cye." Kento replied as he reached up to them.  
  
"Aw, what's the matter? You can't reach them, can you?" Lieah taunted with an evil grin. "Now, since I've kept my part of the bargain, you will at least be courteous enough to hear me out."   
  
"Fine, what do you have to say?" Cye asked as he glared at her.  
  
"Cye, take Kaye and get away from here! Whatever you do, don't listen to her!" Kento warned.  
  
"Be quiet!" Lieah said as she shot a current of electricity through him. Kento yelled out in pain and then fell to the floor, breathing heavily.  
  
"Kento!" Cye exclaimed. "You'll pay for that, you bitch!"   
  
"Ooh, it looks like I hit a nerve." Lieah taunted with an evil grin. "Unfortunately, there's nothing that either of you can do to help him. And that's just too bad."  
  
"All right, that's enough you have our attention. Leave him alone, and tell us what you came here to say." Kaye said as she stood up.  
  
"Tomorrow, my brother and I are coming for a visit, and we'll bring along lover boy." Lieah started to say.  
  
"Tomorrow? Why not now, why is tomorrow so important to you?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"You mean that they didn't tell you?" Lieah replied with an evil grin.   
  
"Tell me what?" Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
"That tomorrow is the anniversary of when I was imprisoned. Besides, if we brought him now, there would be no sense of what I would call dramatic irony. Wouldn't you agree, Torrent?" Lieah replied as she kept her eyes on him.  
  
"Cye, what's she talking about?" Kaye asked as she looked over to him. Cye looked away from Kaye's gaze.   
  
"Unless..." Lieah replied as a smile crept a crossed her face.  
  
"Unless, what?" Cye asked as he snapped his attention towards Lieah.  
  
"You two want to do that energy merge that you did earlier, then I might, just might consider bringing him now." Lieah replied coldly. 


	11. ch 11

Back inside of the mansion...  
  
"I don't like this; they've been gone way too long." Sage said as he was going for the back door.  
  
"Sage, where are you going?" Mia asked as she looked over at him.  
  
"Where does it look like? I'm going out to look for them." Sage replied as he took a quick look back.  
  
"Sage wait, we'll come with you." Ryo said as he and Rowen stood up and joined him.  
  
Back at the lake...  
  
"What is she talking about? What energy merges? I did feel someone's presence when I was in my astral form. Could she be right, was it...Cye?" Kaye wondered as she glanced over to him.  
  
"Well, what's your answer? I don't have all day you know." Lieah asked, as she was getting impatient. "Are you two going to merge your energies or not?"  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I still don't know what you're talking about. So I would suggest that you leave." Cye warned, as he got ready to go on the offensive.  
  
"This is rich! You think that you'll be able to fight me, especially when I'm not really there?   
  
All you'll be doing is striking at my image, but if you think that it'll do you any good to   
fight, then by all means, go ahead and try." Lieah taunted as she laughed.  
  
That right there, pretty much sent Cye over the edge. So he charged at the water full speed with his yari ready to strike. "CYE!" Kaye yelled as he dived into the water while going through her image.  
  
"Wha..?" Rowen asked in surprise as he suddenly stopped.  
  
"Rowen what is it?" Ryo asked as he looked back.  
  
"Didn't you hear something just now? Like someone yelling?" Rowen replied.  
  
"You don't think..." Sage said as he looked at them in concern.  
  
"Yea I do, come on we don't have any time to waste!" Ryo said as they took off in a dead sprint towards the lake. As they came closer, they could see that someone in black and silver sub armor was fighting off some soldiers, while someone else in light blue armor was fighting beneath the lake.  
  
"Kaye, move! Arrow shock wave!" Rowen yelled as he released his sure-kill. Hearing Rowen's warning, Kaye quickly jumped up to the nearest tree branch, and pulled herself out of the way of his arrow before it struck dead center of one of the soldiers.  
  
"Hey, it's about time that you guys showed up. What took ya?" Kaye asked as she stayed up in the tree.  
  
"We, actually Sage had a feeling that something was wrong, so he wanted to come out and look for you two." Ryo replied with a smirk.  
  
"Aw, Sage was actually worried for once. I'm impressed." Kaye teased.  
  
"Humph whatever, as fun as this is, I think that Cye is going to need a hand." Sage replied, as he got ready to dive in.  
  
Just as he was going to dive in, "Super wave smasher!" Cye yelled out when he rode his sure-kill back up to the surface.  
  
"Cye, are you all right?" Ryo asked as they ran up to him.  
  
"Yea I'm fine Ryo; they didn't even stand a chance against me." Cye replied with a grin.  
  
"Hey Cye, that looked like a sweet ride, mind if I go with ya the next time you decide to do that?" Kaye asked as she jumped down from the tree.  
  
"You two mind telling us what just happened?" Rowen asked as he looked at the two for an explanation.  
  
"Well after the 'relieving the pent up stress moment,' I came out starting to just want to calm down and get my thoughts together. But then I saw Cye over here, and then we started talking for   
  
a little while. Then suddenly Lieah's image appeared in the water." Kaye started to explain.  
  
"Lieah! What did she want?" Ryo asked with a hint of anger.  
  
"She said that she wanted to talk about me." Cye replied as he looked at him.  
  
"You? What does she want with you, Cye?" Sage asked in confusion. Cye gave a quick glance over to Kaye; she gave a nod, telling him to go ahead. As Cye and Kaye took turns explaining what happened, the others were getting mix feelings of anger and confusion.   
  
"And then you guys came." Kaye finished. "But that leaves me with a question, what did Lieah mean by tomorrow is the anniversary of her being imprisoned? She seemed kind of surprised when I asked her what she was talking about. So who's going to fill me in on the whole story?"   
  
"Kaye, we thought that since Lieah was imprisoned that she would never return, and then..." Rowen said as he looked over to her with concern.  
  
"And then what Rowen? Then I wouldn't have to find out about her, is that what you meant? I can't believe that you guys would keep something like this from me!" Kaye replied as she was trying to keep her temper in check.  
  
"It's not that simple." Ryo said with a frown.  
  
"Ryo, nothing is ever that simple. I'm surprised at you guys. How long have we known each other, a few years, and it never once, not once crossed your mind to talk to me about this?   
  
Especially since Kento and I are together." Kaye replied as she clutched her hands into fists.  
  
"Kaye..." Cye said as he looked at her in concern.  
  
"Cye, please, don't." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Where are they? They know that I worry about them when they rush out like that." Mia thought as she was searching.  
  
"There you are! Is everyone all right?" Mia asked as she ran up to them.  
  
"Yea Mia we're fine. Listen, I'm going inside to wash up and then I'll help ya with dinner ok."   
  
Kaye replied as she started towards the mansion.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Kaye..." Kento said quietly as he felt his heart sink.  
  
"Aw is your poor precious one heart broken?" Lieah teased as she laughed.  
  
"Shut up!" Kento yelled at her as he turned around and looked at her with pure anger in his eyes.  
  
"Don't you worry lover, you'll be reunited with her and your friends soon enough." Lieah replied with an evil grin.  
  
"Lieah, Lieah!" Alex yelled as he ran down the stairs looking for his sister.  
  
"What is it Alex, can't you see that I'm busy?" Lieah asked in annoyance.  
  
"Sorry, but you told me to come and get you when it's ready." Alex replied as he held up his hands in defense.  
  
"When what's ready? What's that psycho brother of yours talking about?" Kento wondered out loud.  
  
"Unfortunately, that's not for you to know just yet." Lieah replied as she turned and faced him.  
  
Back at the mansion...  
  
"Ok now that I've had some time to think, I guess that they did know what they were doing by not telling me about her. But still, it wasn't right for them to do that. I can't let my anger control my actions, if that happens then I'm so screwed. Well, I suppose that I better hurry and get downstairs and help Mia like I said I would." Kaye thought as she was making her way downstairs.  
  
"What do you think that Lieah will have planned when she and her brother come tomorrow?" Cye asked as he looked around at them.  
  
"Anything is possible, especially with those two." Sage replied as he leaned back against the wall.  
  
"Yea, I suppose you're right. But do you think that she will keep her word, and bring Kento with them?" Cye asked as he looked back to Sage.  
  
"She'll keep her word; she will bring Kento here when they come tomorrow." Kaye replied as she finally made it to the main floor.  
  
"Kaye..." Ryo said as they quickly stood up.  
  
"About what happened at the lake..." Rowen started to say.   
  
Kaye shook her head, "I had time to think about what you guys said, and I understand why you guys didn't tell me, but that's not the issue, right now we have to figure out what those two have planned." Kaye replied with a determined look in her eyes that they knew all too well.  
  
"Are you sure that everything is set for tomorrow, Alex?" Lieah asked as she glanced over at her brother.  
  
"Yea, everything is ready. I don't see why you're being cautious all of the sudden. I mean it's not like everything is just going to blow up in our faces." Alex replied as he rolled his eyes.   
  
"It's very important that everything goes as clock work. Otherwise, if it doesn't I won't be the only one that'll pay the ultimate price. If you know what I mean." Lieah shot back as she hit him on the back of the head.  
  
"I know what you mean. Sheesh, relax already, nothing is going to go wrong." Alex replied as he was rubbing the back of his head.  
  
"You better hope not. Now leave me, I have a few more things to do before tomorrow's arrival."   
  
Lieah said as she turned her back on him.  
  
"You better hope not...bitch." Alex replied under his breath.  
  
"What was that?" Lieah asked in an icy tone.  
  
"Nothing." Alex replied as he left the room.   
  
"It's too bad that my so called little brother doesn't realize that after tomorrow's affairs are   
taken care of. That he will play out his very last role, ever." Lieah said as she started to laugh, not noticing that Alex wasn't too far away.  
  
"Last role ever huh. We'll see about that!" Alex said angrily as he vanished. 


	12. ch 12

The next morning, "Alex! Alex! Damn, where is that no good brother of mine?" Lieah wondered as she looked around for him.  
  
"What do you want Lieah?" Alex asked in annoyance as he appeared beside her.  
  
"I need you to go and retrieve Kento from his cell, while I tie up some loose ends here." Lieah replied as she kept her back towards him.  
  
"Of course, whatever you say." Alex said as he walked down the stairs.  
  
"What do you want?" Kento asked in annoyance as Alex was searching for the key.   
  
Alex quickly looked around, and then began to unlock the cell. "Shut up and listen to what I have to say." Alex replied in a hushed voice.  
  
"Hey, I asked you a question!" Kento said angrily.  
  
"And I said shut up! Now, listen to me. I'm going to let you out." Alex replied as he kept watch for his sister.  
  
"What! You're letting me go, just like that? What are you up to?" Kento asked in mistrust.  
  
"Yes I'm letting you go just like that! Now go already before Lieah finds out about this!" Alex hissed.  
  
"How do I know that this isn't a trick?" Kento asked.  
  
"It's not, you're just going to have to trust me." Alex replied as he tried to hurry Kento towards a window.  
  
"Trust you? How stupid do you think I am?" Kento asked as he grabbed Alex's wrists.  
  
"Right now I don't have the time to give you an answer." Alex replied as he winced from the force of Kento's strong grip.  
  
"Alex! What's taking you so long?" Lieah called from the top of the stairs.  
  
"Just a minute!" Alex called back. "Hit me."  
  
"What?" Kento asked in disbelief.  
  
"I said, hit me. What part of hit me didn't you understand?" Alex asked as he started into his eyes. "I'm trying to help you get out of here."  
  
"Why?" Kento asked as he let him go.  
  
"I have my reasons. Now hit me, and make it look good." Alex replied as he made himself an easy target. Kento didn't hesitate any longer; he delivered two blows, one to Alex's right eye, and the second, right to his stomach making him fly across the room.   
  
"Alex, what's with all of the commotion?" Lieah yelled as she started to walk down the stairs. Kento took a quick look between the unconscious Alex and the window; he could hear Lieah getting closer and closer by the minute. He didn't waste anymore time, he quickly jumped onto a nearby table and then through the window, getting away just before Lieah made it to the room.   
  
"NO!" Lieah yelled angrily as her echoes rang out to the sky.  
  
A sudden groan came from behind; Lieah turned around and saw that Alex was lying on the ground. "What happened?" Alex asked groggily as he was coming to.  
  
"You tell me! He got away! How could you let him get away?" Lieah yelled as she grabbed onto her brother's collar.  
  
"I guess that he surprised me." Alex replied weakly.  
  
"Ah, you baka!" Lieah said as she threw him back down. "No matter, my revenge will still go on as planned."  
  
"But how? Without our...I mean your ace in the whole, then your plan won't work? Will it?" Alex asked as he slowly got to his feet.  
  
"Don't you worry about that. Lucky for you, I always have a backup for just an emergency." Lieah replied with an evil grin.  
  
"What the heck was all of that about?" Kento wondered as he kept running. As he ran, he could hear voices, familiar voices, as he was getting closer to some familiar ground.   
  
"Hey Rowen, what kind of an attack was that?" Kaye asked as he helped her up from the ground.   
  
"Sorry, but I had to see how fast you could react when you're getting attacked from your blind side." Rowen replied with a smirk.  
  
"Come on Rowen, give me a break." Kaye said as she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Hey, you're the one that asked me to train with ya, so deal with it. But I am curious about something though." Rowen replied as he stood down.  
  
"Yea, what?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Why did you ask me to train with ya? I'm sure that the others would of said yes." Rowen asked curiously.  
  
"Point blank, you're the fastest one out of them, and I need to become quicker on my feet so I'll be able to stand a chance when Lieah and her brother get here." Kaye replied.  
  
"Oh I see, well then I think that you've made a good choice." Rowen said with a grin.  
  
"You definitely will be able to stand your ground with them, no question." Kento replied as he came into view.  
  
"Kento!" Kaye exclaimed, as she was about to run to him.  
  
"Kaye wait!" Rowen said as he stopped her from going to him. "Hold it, how do we know that you're the real Kento, and not Alex?"   
  
"Rowen, come on man. It's me." Kento replied as he looked at him in shock.  
  
"Prove it." Rowen said as he stared at him.  
  
"Prove it, how?" Kento asked.  
  
"I know. Kento what did you call me the morning that you proposed to me?" Kaye asked as she looked over at him.  
  
Kento smiled, because the only people that knew what he called her were Cye, he and Kaye. "I called you, my angel."   
  
"It's him, it's really him," Kaye said as she got out of Rowen's grip and ran towards Kento. As she got to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning her around.  
  
Then he stopped, "it's good to see you again," Kento said as he held her close.  
  
"It's good to see you too." Kaye replied.  
  
"Hey, what's going on out here? Kento!" Cye exclaimed as he and everyone else ran outside.  
  
"Kento, how? When? What?" Ryo asked in confusion.  
  
"You're forgetting, who, and where," Kento replied with a grin as he let go of Kaye.   
  
As they were bombarding Kento with question after question on how he got away, no one seemed to notice that two very angry people were close by. "Alex, it's time." Lieah said as she glared at them from their hiding place.  
  
"Lieah, are you sure about this?" Alex asked as he glanced at her.  
  
"Don't tell me that you're thinking of backing out now. I thought that you would want to give some payback for what he did to you." Lieah replied coldly.  
  
"Well yea, of course I want payback." Alex shot back.  
  
"Then stop acting like a coward, and do what I tell you." Lieah said angrily. Alex nodded, he knew that it was pretty much suicide to go against his sister. But he also knew that once this revenge craze of hers was over, he'd be the next one to go.  
  
Suddenly, an ice-cold gush of wind came out of nowhere. Dark-ominous clouds blocked out the sun. Lightning coming down in various directions. Rain started to pour down hard from the sky. "What's going on? There was nothing on the news about any kind of storms!" Mia yelled from the howling winds.  
  
"Everyone, take cover!" Ryo yelled as he saw a tree that was falling towards them.   
  
"Hey, is everyone all right?" Sage asked as he looked around.   
  
"Yea Sage, we're all fine. What do you think caused this?" Cye asked curiously.  
  
"I'll give you two guesses." Kento said as he spotted Lieah and Alex nearby.  
  
"Oh great! Don't they ever give up?" Kaye asked in annoyance.  
  
"Unfortunately, no." Ryo replied as he glared over at them.  
  
"Ronins! Why don't you come out and fight us, instead of acting like scared little mice." Lieah yelled to them.  
  
"Hey! Watch who you're calling scared little mice, you annoying cockroach." Kaye yelled back.  
  
"Cockroach?" Kento asked as he glanced at her.  
  
"Sorry, it looks like I still need to work on my comebacks huh." Kaye replied with a small smile.  
  
"Ah, yea." Kento said as he returned the smile.   
  
"As interesting as I find this conversation, it's not exactly the time to get into it." Rowen said as he tried to get their attention back to the matter at hand.  
  
With everyone keeping their attention on Lieah and Alex, no one even noticed that someone was slowly moving behind them. A cold, evil smile crept along Lieah's face, as she watched her unsuspecting prey. Then in a blink of an eye, the silent attacker quickly took the dagger, held it about his head, and then impaled it into the nearest person's shoulder. 


	13. ch 13

"AAAHHH!" Cye exclaimed in pain as he grabbed for the back of his shoulder.   
  
"Cye!" Mia cried out as they saw the dagger sticking out of his shoulder. With everyone's attention on Cye, no one noticed that Kaye also grabbed for her should at the same time.  
  
"Damn! How could have I felt that?" Kaye wondered as she kept her concerned eyes on him.  
  
"Kento, Rowen hold onto him! I'm going to pull out the dagger." Sage said as he started to pull it out.   
  
"Hold on Cye, Sage almost has it out." Rowen told Cye as he tightened his grip.  
  
"Almost there...got it!" Sage replied as he finally drew out the dagger and threw it to the   
ground.  
  
"Cye, are you all right?" Kento asked in concern.  
  
"Yea Kento, I'm fine my shoulder's just a little sore." Cye replied.  
  
"How did that happen? Lieah and Alex are out there; so then how did Cye get that dagger in his shoulder?" Ryo asked as they turned their attention towards the two that are standing out there in the rain.  
  
"With those two who knows, I guess that anything is possible." Kaye replied angrily.  
  
"I was right, if either one is hurt, then the other one is hurt as well. Hmm, this bit of   
information could play into my favor." Lieah thought as an evil smile crept across her face.  
  
"Hey! What's going on?" Mia asked as she found herself, Ryo, Cye, Rowen, and Sage floating in midair inside some sort of energy bubble.  
  
Ryo unsheathed his swords and started to try and cut away at the bubble, "it's not working, I'm not even making a scratch," Ryo said as he put back his swords.  
  
"What! No way, I'm going to try," Sage said as he took his nodachi and sliced away. "I can't either, so now what?"  
  
"I don't get it, why are Kento and Kaye not trapped like us, unless..." Rowen wondered curiously.  
  
"Hey! Get them out of there right now!" Kento said angrily as he glared at Lieah and Alex.  
  
"Sorry, but that's not going to happen." Alex replied with a grin.  
  
"But I suppose that I could tell you how to get them out." Lieah said with a cold grin.  
  
"Ok I'll bite, how can we get them out?" Kaye asked as she kept her eyes on them.  
  
"All you have to do is..." Lieah started to say.  
  
"Yea? All we have to do is what? Just spit it out!" Kento said angrily.  
  
"Fight each other." Lieah replied.  
  
"WHAT!" Kento and Kaye said in surprise at the same time.  
  
"Yes, all you have to do to win your friends' freedom is to fight each other to the death." Lieah replied as she laughed.  
  
"You're insane! There's no way that you'll make them do that!" Sage said in disbelief.  
  
"Silence!" Lieah replied as a bolt of lightning struck each of the bubbles, making them yell out in pain.  
  
"Stop it!" Kaye yelled at her. Lieah looked into Kaye's eyes and knew that she had more than enough.  
  
"So then, are you going to do it? Are you willing to fight the one that you love to the death?"   
Lieah asked.  
  
"Is this what she had in mind the whole time? This was her revenge, to have us battle each other?" Kento wondered.  
  
"What's your decision? Have you decided whose life or lives are more important? Here, let me help you along." Lieah said as she sent another bolt of lightning at them. Again each of them yelled out in pain.  
  
"We can't fight each other, and we can't risk their lives by not fighting. Ancient, help us."   
Kento pleaded.  
  
"I'm waiting." Lieah said as she was starting to get impatient.  
  
"Kento, what are we to do?" Kaye asked as she looked at him in concern.  
  
"We're going to have to fight." Kento replied in a whisper as he closed his eyes. Kaye nodded; she knew that he felt the same way that she did.   
  
"No! You can't!" Ryo yelled at them.   
  
"Ryo's right, you can't fight each other! What happens if you two do fight, what makes you think that she won't turn around and just finish us off as well, huh? What then?" Sage yelled.  
  
"Don't you think we realize that?" Kaye yelled back at them as she and Kento turned around with tears threatening to come down from both of them.  
  
"Well, what is your answer?" Lieah asked.  
  
"We'll fight, but only in our sub-armor. No sure-kills or powers, just straight hand to hand combat." Kento replied as they both turned around and faced her.  
  
Lieah thought about this for a while, "done, but you will each have a weapon, and I'll even be generous enough to provide for you," Lieah said as she made two bo staffs appear hovering in midair next to her.  
  
"Sis, wouldn't it be sporting of us to let the two love birds say good bye before the battle?" Alex asked as he threw her a glance.  
  
"I suppose that I could allow them to say good bye one last time," Lieah replied as she glanced back at him and then looked over towards Kento and Kaye.   
  
"Kento, whatever happens, I'll always love you, I'll never leave your side." Kaye said, as she looked deep into his eyes.  
  
"Kaye, I'll always love you too, and I'll be with you, always." Kento replied as they kissed each other.  
  
"Ok, ok time's up. Now can we get to the fight?" Lieah asked as she was starting to get impatient again. They broke their kiss, and then they slowly walked around the fallen tree, and faced each other on opposite ends.   
  
"Kento, don't! You can't!" Cye yelled to him. But Kento just stood there not wavering, trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall.  
  
"Kaye, you know that this isn't right!" Rowen yelled to her. Kaye just stood there, trying also to fight the tears. They stood there, just staring at each other, ignoring the pleas coming from their friends. Lightning struck again in different directions as the rain started to come down even harder than before.   
  
"Let the battle begin!" Lieah said as she threw the two bo staffs towards them. They caught their weapons and faced off. 


	14. ch 14

"It's no use, they're not listening! We have to do something!" Cye said urgently.  
  
"We know Cye, but what can we do? We're stuck in these things!" Ryo shot back.  
  
"It's wrong, it's all wrong! This shouldn't be happening at all. Ancient, why won't you help us?" Mia thought in concern.  
  
"After everything that all of us have been through, I would never have thought that something like this would actually happen. There has to be another way, there just has to be. It can't end this way." Kento thought as neither he nor Kaye made a move.   
  
"I hope that the two of you are not trying to stall. Because if you are, then I might have to give you some motivation." Lieah said as she began to get impatient.   
  
"NO! You don't need to. We're ready." Kaye replied as she was trying not to favor her wounded shoulder. She then gave a quick nod in Kento's direction, and he gave one back.   
  
"Forgive me." Kento and Kaye thought at the same time as they began to charge at each other.   
  
Just as they were getting closer, Kaye leapt onto the fallen tree, and then pushed off of it to get behind Kento. Kento quickly turned around and delivered a kick to Kaye's stomach, making her fly back into another tree. Kaye arched her back from the force of the impact, and then fell to the ground on her hands and knees. Kento wanted to run towards her, but then he remember that he couldn't help her, and she couldn't help him, no matter how bad they wanted.   
  
"Aw, that's it? And here I was hoping for a real battle." Lieah taunted with a smile.   
  
"Don't count me out just yet." Kaye replied as she slowly started to get up from the ground, and then got herself ready for the next attack. Kento gave a quick smirk; he knew that it would take more than just one kick to keep her down. So then Kento decided to start the offensive. He charged at her, just as he got close enough, he swiped his staff towards her head. Kaye dodged, barely, and then quickly did a leg sweep, knocking him on his back. She quickly brought her staff high above, and then delivered a swift blow to his head. Kento quickly blocked her attack with his staff and pushed her away. They both stood up, breathing heavily, staring at each other.  
  
"Damn! My shoulder is starting to get to me." Kaye thought as she grabbed onto her shoulder and winced.  
  
"Why is she holding onto her shoulder like that? I didn't think that she was injured that much already." Kento wondered as he kept his eyes on her.  
  
"This is just great, my shoulder kills, I can't let it, and I have to concentrate on this stupid fight." Kaye thought as she slowly changed her fighting position.  
  
"Wait a minute, that's the same shoulder that..." Kento realized as his eyes went wide.  
  
"Oh boy, he knows. He knows, dammit!" Kaye swore under her breath.  
  
"If you two don't start fighting, then I'm just going to send some more lightning bolts towards your friends." Lieah warned.  
  
"No! There's no need, we, ah we just needed to catch our breaths for a minute." Kento replied as he glanced angrily at her.  
  
"Fine, now that you have your second wind, then I suggest that you two stop stalling." Lieah shot back. As she said that, both of them started to circle each other, looking for an opening.   
  
"Kaye how's the shoulder?" Kento whispered in concern as he thrust his staff at her.  
  
"It's...fine." Kaye whispered back as she deflected his staff. Kaye brought her staff around, so she could swipe Kento's feet out from under him. He saw this coming; he jumped up and behind bringing his staff in front of her as he pulled her into him, which made Kaye drop hers to the ground.  
  
"Yes! Finish her!" Lieah yelled in excitement.  
  
"Kaye." Kento whispered as he brought her closer.  
  
"Yea." Kaye whispered back.  
  
"Step back." Kento said.  
  
"What?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Step back." Kento said again.  
  
"Why? Kento, what are you trying to pull?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Trust me, and just step back ok," Kento replied, "you do trust me, don't you?"  
  
"Of course I trust you. What kind of question is that?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Just do it." Kento replied as he moved his hands into a different position.   
  
"Ok, I'm ready when you are. Just tell me when." Kaye said when she realized what he was doing.   
  
"Now!" Kento replied as they both stepped back at the same time. And then Kento flipped her behind him, into the air, and right towards Lieah and Alex. Kento then quickly turned around and jumped right after her.   
  
"What? What are you doing?" Lieah asked in astonishment as she saw them come right towards them.   
  
"What does it look like? They're coming for us." Alex replied as he tried to get out of the way.   
"Hey! Where do you think that you're going? You're gonna miss all of the fun!" Kaye said as she tackled Alex.  
  
"Alex!" Lieah exclaimed as she started to go and help him.  
  
"Where do you think you're going? We've got some unfinished business to take care of." Kento said as he tackled her.  
  
"All right Kento!" Cye exclaimed in excitement.  
  
"How dare you!" Alex said angrily as he glared at his opponent.  
  
"Ok enough is enough! You are going to let our friends out of those things right now!" Kaye replied angrily.  
  
"I think that you better listen to the lady. You don't want to piss her off, trust me." Kento said with a smirk.   
  
"Thanks a lot Kento." Kaye replied as she glanced over at him.  
  
"Sure, any time." Kento said as he glanced back.  
  
"Why aren't the two of you fighting each other? If you two don't fight, then your friends will pay the price! What! Where is it?" Lieah asked as she was searching for something.  
  
"You mean this?" Kento asked as he dangled her pouch in front of her.  
  
"Give me that!" Lieah replied as she lunged for him.  
  
"Kaye, catch!" Kento said as he threw it to her.  
  
"I got it!" Kaye replied as she caught the pouch.  
  
"Alex, get that pouch from her!" Lieah yelled angrily.  
  
"Be a good girl and give me the pouch." Alex taunted as he started to approach her.  
  
"You know what really annoys me?" Kaye asked as she kept her eyes on him.  
  
"What?" Alex asked back as he kept on coming.  
  
"It's when people just won't stop patronizing me. It's quite annoying, just like you." Kaye replied as she started to back away.  
  
"Oh no you didn't. You didn't just call me annoying." Alex said as he started to become angry.  
  
"Well, duh yea. What else should I have called you?" Kaye replied with a smirk.   
  
"That was your last mistake! No one, and I mean no one, calls me annoying!" Alex said as he charged at her with anger flared in his eyes.  
  
"Ah yea, I think that's my cue to leave." Kaye thought as she took off with the pouch, and Alex not too far behind. "Kento, be careful."  
  
"Hey! Where do you think that you're going?" Alex asked as he jumped over her head and landed right in front of her.   
  
"What's it to you?" Kaye asked back as she got into defensive position.  
  
"If you give me that pouch, then I'll set your friends free." Alex said as they circled each other.  
  
"Yea right! Like I'm going to take your word for it." Kaye replied sarcastically.  
  
"Take a look around, it's not like you have a choice, now does it?" Alex said as his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Then tell me, what's so important about this pouch anyway?" Kaye asked.  
  
"That's only for me and Lieah to know," Alex replied, "now, give it back!"  
  
"Forget it! If you want it, then you'll have to take it from me." Kaye shot back.   
  
"My pleasure." Alex replied as he quickly jumped up to the nearest tree, and then dropping down behind her, and slashing at her wounded shoulder.   
  
"Damn, he's too fast. I can't keep up, especially with this shoulder." Kaye thought angrily as she tried to dodge his attacks.   
  
"Demon's scream!" Alex yelled as he delivered one of his special attacks that sent Kaye flying.  
  
"I...I have to get up. I...have to...fight." Kaye groaned as she struggled to get up.  
  
"Aw what's the matter? Didn't you like my attack? Here, why don't you try this one and see if you like it. I know that I do, it's my favorite. Soul rever!" Alex called out as the attack hit his target.  
  
"Aw, it looks like that I over did it just a bit." Alex mused as he picked up Kaye's body and went back to the others.  
  
"What's taking that worthless brother of mine so long to retrieve that pouch?" Lieah wondered as she was avoiding Kento's attacks.  
  
"You know what they say, it's not a good idea to keep things inside, otherwise, you'll just blow Kento taunted with a smirk.  
  
"Shut up!" Lieah shot back.  
  
"Sis, hey sis! Look what I have!" Alex yelled as he threw Kaye's body a few feet from Kento.  
  
"Oh God!" Mia whispered in shock.  
  
"Kaye!" Kento yelled as he ran over to her, and then knelt down.  
  
"Alex, mind telling me what took you so long?" Lieah asked in annoyance as Alex gave her back the pouch.  
  
"Sorry, sheesh I thought that you would show some gratitude. You got your pouch back, didn't you?" Alex replied in annoyance.  
  
"Yes of course, you're right. I am greatful, thank you, and I'll show you how greatful I really am." Lieah said with a cold grin.   
  
"Lieah, how could you?" Alex asked in shock as she withdrew her hand from his large, gaping hole in his chest.   
  
"Easy little brother, but don't worry, there's one more thing that you can do for me." Lieah replied.  
  
"No...Lieah, don't!" Alex begged with his last breath, as she somehow merged him inside of her body. 


	15. ch 15

"I can't believe it! She actually sacrificed her own brother!" Ryo said as he and the others   
looked on in shock.  
  
"She's insane!" Sage said angrily.  
  
"You just noticed this now? I'm surprised at you Halo, I thought that you knew that I was insane a long time ago?" Lieah asked as she approached them.  
  
"Kaye, come on wake up! Open your eyes!" Kento pleaded.  
  
"Kento?" Kaye said groggily as she began to come around.   
  
"Everything is going to be all right." Kento replied with a small smile.  
  
"Since none of you are going anywhere, you can watch your two friends...die!" Lieah said as she launched a very powerful attack towards them.  
  
"Kento! Kaye! Watch out!" Rowen yelled to them. Just as the attack was about to hit, out of nowhere a golden staff imbedded itself into the ground. The rings clink rapidly against the long part of the staff, making Lieah's attack to disappear into thin air.   
  
"That noise! That terrible noise!" Lieah shrieked as she grabbed onto her head and fell to her knees.   
  
"Kento, what is that?" Kaye asked as she looked at him.  
  
"It's the Ancient's staff. But he's dead, then who?" Kento replied as they looked at the staff.  
The staff's rings kept on clinking rapidly, then a bright golden glow quickly covered Mia's backyard. The glow was so bright that everyone had to cover their eyes. Then when it died down,   
  
Rowen, Cye, Mia, Ryo and Sage found themselves standing, and their energy bubbles have been totally destroyed.   
  
"The Ancient's staff, it disappeared!" Ryo said as he drew everyone's attention to where the staff use to be.  
  
"Figures, it seems like whenever things get real bad that thing shows up, and then it does its job and leaves." Sage replied.  
  
"Right now isn't the time to get into it. We have something else to take care of." Rowen replied as he turned everyone's attention towards Lieah.  
  
"Yea! So let's get to it! Ronin warriors, to arms!" Ryo said as everyone armored up.   
  
Suddenly, a sound of soft laughter came out, and then it started to get louder and louder.   
  
"What's so funny Lieah," Cye asked, "you're surrounded in case you didn't notice."  
  
"Fools! Do you honestly think that your little powers can defeat me?" Lieah asked back as she started to hover into the air.  
  
"Little? Did you hear what she said," Kento asked, "She called our powers little."   
  
"Let's show her how little our powers really are," Kaye replied, "tiger's rage!" The other ronins quickly followed suit. Lieah dodged the on coming attacks, but just as she thought she dodged them all, one of Rowen's arrows hit it's target making her fall.  
  
"All right Rowen, nice shot!" Kento exclaimed.  
  
"That's it? I thought that you ronins have gotten better over time. I guess not. Now, it's my turn." Lieah said as she opened her pouch.   
  
"What is she up to?" Rowen wondered as they were watching for her next move.  
  
"Torrent, remember at the lake when I asked you and that girl to merge your energies?" Lieah asked as she eyed them both.  
  
"Yea, what about it?" Cye asked.  
  
"I'm asking you again, will you two merge your energies or not?" Lieah asked back as she stirred her hand around in the pouch.  
  
"In case you have a short memory, I'll remind you. We don't know what you're talking about when you tell us about merging our energies." Kaye shot back.  
  
"I thought that you would say something like that. So I guess that we'll just do this the hard way." Lieah replied as she took what was inside of the pouch and threw it at them.   
  
"What is this stuff?" Cye asked as his and Kaye's oras started to glow.  
  
"Something doesn't feel right. I feel...so tired...all of...a...sudden." Kaye said as she closed her eyes and fell forward.   
  
"Kaye!" Kento exclaimed as he caught her before she hit the ground.  
  
"Cye!" Sage said as he caught him as well.  
  
"Lieah, what did you do?" Ryo asked angrily.  
  
"Remember when Torrent was stabbed in the shoulder earlier?" Lieah asked with a cold grin.  
  
"Yea? What about it?" Rowen asked.  
  
"Didn't you think Kento, that it was rather odd when you and your love were fighting, that she was favoring the same shoulder that Torrent was stabbed at?" Lieah asked back.   
  
"What do those two events have to do with this?" Ryo asked angrily.  
  
"I'm surprised, no I guess I should say disappointed in you. None of you figured out that those two have some type of connection to each other?" Lieah replied with an evil grin.   
  
"What are you talking about, what kind of connection?" Kento asked as he looked between Cye and Kaye who were now lying on the ground.   
  
'Cye, what's going on? Why are our bodies on the ground, while we're standing?' Kaye asked as she looked at him curiously.  
  
'I'm not sure, but I do know one thing.' Cye replied as he looked over at Lieah.  
  
'Yea, and what's that?' Kaye asked.  
  
'She has no intention of letting us go back.' Cye replied as he was starting to get angry.  
  
"You didn't answer his question, Lieah. What do you mean by what you said about a connection?"   
  
Sage asked as he was starting to show his anger.  
  
"Sorry, but I don't think that it's time to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak." Lieah   
replied.  
  
'Cye, tell me that I'm not seeing things.' Kaye said as she looked over at Ryo.  
  
'What? It can't be.' Cye replied in confusion.  
  
'What can't be?' Kaye asked.  
  
'It looks like Ryo is trying to fight against the urge to call the Inferno.' Cye replied.  
  
"I can't, I can't call upon the Inferno. I don't want to take that chance." Ryo thought as he   
fought with himself.  
  
"Aw, what's the matter Wildfire? Are you actually afraid to call upon the Inferno?" Lieah   
taunted with a cold grin.  
  
"Ryo's not afraid of anything! Besides, we don't need the Inferno to beat you!" Kento replied angrily as he attacked her head on.  
  
"For once, Kento has the right idea," Rowen said as he started his own attack, "coming in!" Sage and Ryo took a quick look at each other and then joined into the battle.  
  
'Cye, this is crazy. How can we help them if they can't see or hear us?' Kaye asked in   
frustration.  
  
'I don't know.' Cye replied as they watched their friends fight, 'wait a minute, Kaye, did you see that?'  
  
'See what?' Kaye asked in confusion.  
  
'That!' Cye said as he directed Kaye's attention towards an odd light.  
  
'What is that?' Kaye asked.  
  
'I'm not sure, but if it's a way back to our bodies, then there's no way that I'm going to pass it up,' Cye replied as he headed towards the odd light, 'well, are you coming?'   
  
'And stay like this for the rest of my life? No way, so let's go!' Kaye replied as they both   
were now running towards the odd light.  
  
"I don't believe it! How could they have found the way out so quickly? No one has ever gotten out before!" Lieah thought in anger as she was dodging the attacks.  
  
"What's the matter, Lieah? Is something not going the way that you've planned?" Sage taunted as he sliced away at her.  
  
"You know, I really hate it when that happens, don't you?" Kento asked with a smirk.  
  
"I'm warning you now! If you don't cease your attacks, then your two friends will never see the next sunset!" Lieah replied angrily as she was ready to attack the Cye's and Kaye's defenseless bodies.  
  
"We won't let you," Ryo said as they got in front of them blocking her attack, "whatever happens, don't let her get through!"  
  
"You don't have to tell us twice, Ryo," Rowen replied, "arrow shock wave!"   
  
'Cye, it's closing!' Kaye said as the odd light started to fade.  
  
'Come on, we have to run faster!' Cye replied as he pulled her along with him.  
  
"What the? Ryo, Ryo!" Kento said excitedly as he and the others stood their ground.  
  
"Kento, what is it? This isn't exactly the best time for a conversation." Ryo replied as he deflected an attack.  
  
"I saw them move!" Kento said.  
  
"What! Are you sure, Kento?" Rowen asked.  
  
"Yea, I'm positive. I know that they moved! There see, they moved again!" Kento replied.  
  
"Ok, here's the plan. Sage, get back there and do your thing. Kento, watch his back!" Ryo said.  
  
"Then let me guess, Ryo, that leaves us as the diversion." Rowen replied as he glanced over to him.  
  
"Yea, hopefully it won't take Sage very long. We're going to need everybody to finally get rid of Lieah." Ryo said as he and Rowen charged at her.  
  
'Cye, look!' Kaye exclaimed excitedly as she noticed a green ora surrounding the odd light.  
  
'Sage, we owe you one.' Cye replied as he and Kaye dove for the opening.  
  
"What? Oh man, am I seeing an...Angel?" Kaye asked quietly as she and Cye were coming around.  
  
"Nope, sorry to disappoint ya, no angel, but someone better." Kento replied with a teasing grin.  
  
"Now that's a first." Cye said with a smirk.  
  
"What is?" Sage asked curiously.  
  
"Someone acatually calling Kento an angel." Cye replied with a small laugh.  
  
"Hey!" Kento said in mock annoyance.  
  
"As much as I would love to continue this debate, I think that Ryo and Rowen could use some help." Sage replied as he directed their attention towards the battle.   
  
"So then what are we waiting for," Kento asked, as they got ready to join them, "an invitation?"  
  
"NO! They can't be! Everything that I've worked for is completely gone!" Lieah exclaimed angrily as she noticed that Cye and Kaye were back with their friends.  
  
"Deal with it! We're back and ready to kick some major butt," Cye replied as they stood ready to fight, "Ryo, do it!"  
  
Ryo nodded and then called upon the Inferno. "Rage of Inferno!" Ryo called out as he directed his attack straight at Lieah. It hit the target dead center, and then the flames started to burn away at her.  
  
"The prophecy will be fulfilled," Lieah, yelled out as she was being consumed by the flames, "the prophecy will be fulfilled!"  
  
Then in a blink of an eye, Lieah turned to ash, and the winds of the storm blew her remains into the air. Ryo and the others reverted back from their armors and into regular clothes. "What did she mean by, the prophecy will be fulfilled?" Mia asked as she looked around at them.  
  
In the not too distant shadows, a dark figure stood on top of a tree branch, was watching what just took place. "Lieah, you fool! You weren't supposed to say anything about the prophecy! Now I'm going to have to do something to fix this." the figure thought angrily as his golden eyes glowed red. 


	16. epiloge

"Hey you guys, dinner's about ready!" Cye called out from the kitchen.  
  
"Yea! It's about time, I'm starving!" Ryo replied as they ran up to the table and quickly sat down.  
  
"Hey Ryo, those are usually Kento's lines." Sage said with a smirk.  
  
"Watch it, Sage!" Ryo warned.  
  
"Speaking of Kento, where is he? I thought that he would be the first one at the table?" Mia asked as she was helping Cye bring out the food.  
  
"I think that I saw him outside." Rowen replied as he motioned out back.  
  
"I'll get him." Kaye said as she went out to find Kento.   
  
Luckily, Kaye didn't have to go very far. "Kento, hey are ya going to come in? Cye has dinner ready." Kaye asked as she stood next to him.  
  
"Huh, yea, in a minute." Kento replied as he kept his gaze forward.   
  
"Kento, what's wrong?" Kaye asked in concern.  
  
"Nothing." Kento replied flatly.  
  
"Yea right, come on Kento, I know you better than that. Now spill, or I'll have Ryo cook your lunch for the next week. And you know what happened the last time Ryo tried to cook." Kaye warned.  
  
"You wouldn't." Kento said as he was taken back. He remembered the last time that Ryo was in the kitchen. He nearly burned the whole entire meal, which almost put Kento to tears because of the waste of food.  
  
"Try me." Kaye teased.  
  
Then Kento got seriously quiet, "all right, Kaye, I was out here trying to figure out how to explain why I haven't told you about Lieah." Kento started to say.  
  
"Kento..." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Let me continue, ok." Kento said quietly.   
  
Kaye nodded and then he continued. "I, I just didn't know how to bring her up. I mean that I thought that she and her brother were gone for good, and we wouldn't have to deal with them ever again. I guess that I..." Kento continued to say, but was cut short when Kaye laid her fingers gently onto his mouth, telling him to not say any more.  
  
"Kento, I understand why you and the others kept this a secret. Heck, I would of too, if I was in the same position. But there's something that you have to understand about me. I don't care about what happened in the past, I only care about the present, and our future together. Nothing else matters, well of course the others, but that goes without saying. The past is the past, there's no point in looking back on something that brings pain. Even though sometimes it's the pain that tells us that in it's own weird way that we're alive. And for that, I'm grateful." Kaye explained, as she looked deep into his eyes.   
  
Kento gently brought her hand down from his mouth, keeping his eyes locked onto hers, and then for the first time, in a very long time, he gave a genuine smile. "So are we going inside? You did say that Cye had dinner ready, right?" Kento said as he started towards the mansion with Kaye in tow.  
  
"Kento!" Kaye replied as they laughed when they were running towards the door.  
  
"That's right, enjoy the time that you have, because soon, the long awaited prophecy will become a reality. We've waited a very long time for this prophecy to come, and soon, very soon it'll be here, and there will be nothing that any of you can do to stop it." a figure that was hiding in the shadows thought as he disappeared with the setting sun. 


End file.
